Judon't Know How Much I Like You
by yamarik
Summary: Lance thinks he knows what Keith is like. But after he overhears Keith flirting with a visiting judoka, he finds himself reevaluating his opinions.
1. Day 1

The four teenagers aren't in a very agreeable mood at the moment, but there is still one thing they can all agree on: the two coolers they are toting are way too heavy.

"What's even in these things?" Lance whines. "Bodies?"

"Ew, are you trying to make me drop this thing?" Hunk protests.

"Don't you dare drop your end, Hunk! Not unless you guys want a Pidge pancake!" Pidge snarls.

"For the last time, it's just some drinks to have at the pizza party after practice. And if you three would move your legs half as much as you move your mouths, we'd be done with this already!" Keith snaps.

"Well sor-ry Mr. Black Belt!" Lance huffs, rolling his eyes. "Pardon us mere mortals for being burdened by such trivial things as the fact that these coolers weigh a ton!"

Keith rolls his eyes back. He formulates a retort, but keeps it to himself. It's just not worth it with Lance. Besides, he fully agrees that their burdens are quite heavy. His shoulder feels like it's being slowly wrenched out of its socket. It's like the time Allura-sensei had them working on arm bars for an entire practice. Except even two hours of people trying to force him to tap out while he tried to break free didn't leave his arm hurting so much. He silently curses Shiro for asking them to get these stupid coolers from his car.

"Why am I even here to begin with?" Pidge grumbles. "I'm like, the smallest person in the dojo who's more than ten years old!"

"Because they've got to get out extra mats for the guests and you can't handle that on your own but everyone else can," Keith sighs.

"It was a rhetorical question, smartass!"

Yeah, Shiro is so going to pay for sending him out with these louts.

x

The guests have already arrived when they finally make it into the dojo. They're a small group of Judoka from the infamous Galra dojo, and are here for a two-week intensive training camp. It's an exchange the two dojos do every other year. Last time, Lance was still too low-ranked to attend when their dojo went to visit the Galra dojo. At the time he was really disappointed, but right now he's kinda glad he didn't go because those attending the camps are subjected to practice six days a week. And this time around he's not looking forward to that much practice.

Everyone's stretching a bit before they're all called to bow in, and Lance looks the guests over from the corner of his eye. The senseis look tough. The one is a big guy, the kind of person who looks like he could crush anyone he wanted with just his pinky toe. The other is a wiry woman who doesn't look like much in a way that suggests that she is actually super badass. Both have no-nonsense expressions on their faces, and Lance shudders to think what training under them must be like. He can just imagine the insane amounts of push-ups, sit-ups, and burpees they must make their students do.

Having glanced at the senseis first, Lance is expecting a bunch of hard core looking students, but among the first cluster of them he spots, there's only one who looks like he expected: a giant of a girl who Lance is afraid to be thrown by because she'll likely break the mats and the floor with him. But the rest…

There's three other girls, and they're all rather pretty. One is currently in a split that hurts to even look at, and bending her torso every which way effortlessly. She has the longest ponytail Lance has ever seen, and her face is the kind of face that seems like she's smiling even when she's not. Next to her, another girl is moving her hands rapidly, and Lance realizes she's speaking sign language. The sleeves of her gi ride up a bit and Lance almost whistles at the sight of her forearms, which have well-toned muscles that he is in awe of. The last girl in the group has short hair that falls over her eyes, and a serious expression. He wants to make her laugh, since he's willing to bet she'd be positively gorgeous if she did.

Lance almost mistakes the last person in the group for a girl as well. He has long hair that is so blonde it looks white and is almost luminous. Meanwhile, his skin, or what little Lance can see of it, is absolutely radiant, practically glowing with good health. He must take good care of himself. Lance can respect that. The boy is attracting plenty of looks from the Voltron dojo's girls, and Lance feels a pang of envy. When the girls of the dojo look at him, they always have something negative in their expression: annoyance, disgust, horror, and sometimes loathing. But this guy… They look at him like he's made of chocolate and they all want some.

It's only when Keith enters his field of vision and approaches the group of guests that Lance realizes that they've already finished their task and that he is awkwardly hovering by the coolers. God he must look so lame right now. He grimaces, at himself, but also at the fact that Keith who is possibly the most socially awkward person on the planet is the one stepping up to be hospitable. Way to represent the dojo.

Lance jogs over to his bag and grabs the jacket of his gi, shrugging it on and hurriedly tying his belt before heading over to show some real hospitality to the guests before Keith convinces them that the Voltron dojo is super unfriendly. But just as he arrives within earshot he hears it:

"Damn, boi. If you were any less hot, I'd ask where you got all your good features from, but you're just so fine that it must be all-natural perfection."

The newcomer looks up at Keith, an amused smile on his face. The girls giggle. And Lance, Lance is standing in the middle of the mats, mouth hanging open like some sort of flytrap and completely shook. Did- did Keith just say that?

Luckily Shiro calls everyone to bow in and Lance is spurred into motion, saving himself from the complete humiliation that would have come his way had he stayed frozen like that. But he barely hears as the guests from the Galra dojo are introduced as Zarkon-sensei, Haggar-sensei, Lotor, Zethrid, Ezor, Acxa, and Narti. He's just too startled that Keith, awkward, clueless, unsociable Keith, used a line that put every bit of flattery Lance has ever used to shame. And Lance has used lots of flattery in his time. He'd thought he was the King of Flirts, the King of Suave, the King of Pick-up Lines. But his crown has just been stolen by the least likely person. How typical of Keith, to notice the one thing Lance is obviously better at than him and work out a way to one-up him.

Lance remains out of it all through warm-ups. He almost runs into Hunk as they do roll-outs across the mats, and when they're shrimping their way back he actually does run into Matt. And then a drill is announced, and Shiro assigns partners for them, and practice begins in earnest. Before Lance knows it, he is face to face with the sign language girl, and he realizes they're supposed to be doing a drill. Crap. He blinks, looking around for help. The girl- Narti- signs something at him but he doesn't understand and what is he supposed to do and-

"It's a minute drill, idiot," Pidge's voice hisses from nearby. Thank god for Pidge. They'll be taking turns throwing their partner over and over for an entire minute. A grueling drill to start the day with.

"If you're partner is from the Galra dojo, they get first minute," Shiro's voice barks out. "Hajime!"

Lance barely has time to register Shiro's command before he's flying through the air. Even with all his training, he still is almost winded by the force of the throw. Yup, Narti is strong. No doubt about that. Around him, he can see his friends in similar states- Pidge thrown by Ezor, Matt thrown by Acxa, poor Hunk flattened by Zethrid, and- oh god. What was Shiro thinking, pairing Lotor and Keith? Did he not hear that- that- Lance's brain is going to shut down at this rate. He jumps to his feet and lets Narti throw him again, and again, and each time he hits the ground just as hard. But as the minute ends and they switch roles so that he is the one throwing, he feels the "tatami therapy" taking effect, and slowly his mind begins to clear. So what if Keith… did that. It's not Lance's problem. Right now, the only thing Lance needs to worry about is his judo, and that's what he's gonna do.

x

By the end of practice, Lance is exhausted. They all are. Or, everyone from the Voltron dojo is at least. The Galra dojo judoka all look fresh, as if they've barely gotten started and are ready to go run a marathon. Lance secretly hates them now. After the minute drills were over, he got partnered with Pidge for some chokes, and then he and Ezor did mat work. Yoko-shiho-gatame has never been so awkward before. Ezor grabbed way too far up on his leg, and it seemed to be her favorite hold to use. Still, it could have been worse. He could have been Matt, stuck working with Zethrid who didn't even have to use a hold to pin him down because of the difference in weight.

Throughout the whole practice, Keith and Lotor stayed paired together. And Shiro had justified it even! He claimed that since they were the only two black belt students, they ought to gain some experience working with someone of the same level. As if Lance and the others were so far behind! Hunk, Matt, and Lance were all just shy of their black belts. In fact, if Lance hadn't gotten the flu right before the last testing day, he'd already be first dan. And he knew from today that any of those four girls from the Galra dojo were also on that level as well. They might not be as good as him, because, really, who was? But they could hold their own, and so there was no need to promote snooty attitudes like freaking Keith's and now Lotor's.

Lance wants nothing more than to go home and shower, but Shiro made other plans. After all, he'd had them lug those coolers in, and now, there's a guy wearing a uniform from the local pizza parlor walking in and being waved over by Coran-sensei, and before Lance knows it his name is being called and he's being told to go help Keith, Matt, and Hunk grab the pizzas. He groans and quickly strips off his gi before going to help out. He fans himself with the material of his t-shirt as he follows after the other guys. It's hot. As in temperature. If it's looks, then Lance is always hot.

On the way back in with the pizzas, Lance hears a voice saying to him "Here, let me take those." Lance starts to smile and say "Thank you, that's really very kind," when he looks up to see that it's Lotor, causing him to stop after only letting out "Than-". He has to admit Lotor's got a nice smile, with sparkling white teeth. He has to bleach them. Except Lance simply cannot imagine Lotor doing that. And Lotor's eyes… they glint with… intelligence? Amusement? No, what is Lance thinking? Obviously it's devious and cunning and schemes and Lance almost fell for this cretin's-

Lotor suddenly stoops, and Lance is confused, until he looks down and realizes he dropped the pizzas he was carrying. _And Lotor CAUGHT them_. Dang. Nice reflexes. Also, if the Earth could just swallow Lance up so his useless moronic self can die now that would be great. How many times is he going to make a fool of himself today? At least the Galra dojo guests will be here for another two weeks so he can make up for his bad first impression.

"Lance, I know you think with your hormones more than your brain, but can't you get it together enough to at least hold onto a few pizza boxes?" Keith asks.

"It's a simple mistake that could have happened to anyone," Lotor chides. Keith hmphs his disagreement, and continues his journey to where some of the other students have cleared the mats and set up some tables. Lotor smiles benignly at Lance.

"If you'd like, you could come sit with me and my friends?" he offers.

"Thanks, but no thanks," Lance says tightly. Lotor shrugs.

"Suit yourself," he says. He follows Keith to put the pizzas on the table. Hunk and Matt have already deposited the boxes they were carrying as well, and the hordes of hungry judoka descend on the tables, ready to devour every last piece that they can. Lance joins the mob, because to wait would mean not getting any pizza, and snags two slices of pepperoni and a third slice with veggies all over the top because his mom is always nagging him about not eating enough fruits and veggies. He finds a corner to sit in and is almost immediately joined by Pidge and Hunk. He DOES NOT take note of the fact that Keith is sitting with Lotor and those four girls.

"So, uh, what was with you today?" Hunk asks quietly.

"Yeah man, you're always a little bit peculiar, but today you were a total space case," Pidge agrees.

"I guess I was just a little weirded out is all," Lance admits. "I mean, that thing with Keith…"

"Oh no. If this is about Keith then let me go get some painkillers from Allura-sensei because by the time you're finished bitching and moaning about everything that's wrong with Keith I'm definitely going to have a headache," Pidge gripes.

"It's not like that this time!" Lance protests.

"So you do admit you have a bee in your bonnet about Keith?" Pidge says with a sly grin.

"Shut up. But no, seriously. Didn't you hear him before practice today? That was just too weird."

"What, him being grouchy while we were carrying those overweight coolers?" Pidge asked. "That seemed pretty normal if you ask me. Anyone would be grouchy about being tortured like that."

"No, not that. I mean after! When he was talking to Lotor."

"I didn't notice anything out of the ordinary," Pidge says, looking to Hunk for confirmation. Hunk shrugs as he takes another bite of pizza. While Lance and Pidge have been talking, Hunk has munched his way through four slices of pizza and is working on his fifth. He still has one more slice to go, and odds are that he'll still be giving Pidge hopeful looks in case she doesn't feel like finishing both her slices.

"What do you mean you didn't notice anything out of the ordinary?!" Lance sputters. "He used a line! A pick-up line! Keith! On Lotor! How is that not out of the ordinary?!"

"Um, because Keith uses lines like that all the time?" Pidge says.

"No he doesn't."

"Just because he doesn't try them on you doesn't mean he doesn't use them," Hunk says. "Though I guess it was a bit unusual for Keith to go full-on like that right from the start. Usually he's a bit more subtle than that. Like when he first started flirting with me, I almost didn't notice."

"Wh- He- You- Uh- WHAT?!" Lance chokes.

"I told him I wasn't interested and he backed off right away. Once someone tells him no, he listens. And he doesn't really push any boundaries so that even people who aren't interested don't really feel uncomfortable," Hunk says.

"B- but… He flirted with you?" Lance squeaks.

"You flirt with me all the time, bro," Hunk points out.

"Yeah, but I'm your best friend! It's just a casual bromance, nothing that's going to go anywhere."

"You are so weird. Don't worry, I still love you the best," Hunk says wryly.

"Glad to hear it. But still… Keith flirting…"

"You probably just didn't notice because he doesn't flirt with you," Pidge says.

"Yeah, that is kinda weird," Hunk agrees. "You're like, the only guy he keeps his distance from."

"No, Keith was like that with that Ulaz guy too, remember?"

"The one who got into the car accident?"

"Yeah. He wasn't like that at first, but then he started avoiding Ulaz, and I heard from Matt that Ulaz had told a bunch of the guys about how at his old dojo there had been this gay guy who was super creepy, and that that happened just before Keith started avoiding Ulaz."

"So what, Keith doesn't flirt with me because he thinks I'm homophobic?" The words come out a bit more hostile than Lance intends, and Pidge and Hunk share a look.

"Oooo, what's this? Do I detect a hint of jealousy?" Pidge asks.

"No way. I hate the guy, so there's no need for him to hit on me."

"You know, they say that hate and love are two sides of the same coin," Hunk says.

"Whatever. I'm just mad that he tried to put the moves on my bestest bro. At least he hasn't done the same to our little Pidgey, right?"

"Um, I wouldn't say that," Pidge says, looking away.

"Wait what," Lance asks deadpan.

"Well the first practice after I got my hair cut short, he mistook me for Matt. Y'know, since Matt hadn't had his growth spurt yet? Anyway, turns out he and Matt have kind of a similar relationship to you two, and so he got a little fresh with me, unintentionally. He was so embarrassed when Matt came up and set the record straight. He may be a smooth flirt, but he's really no good with girls."

"Oh god. I- I just can't right now. Also, Pidge, how could you? You and Hunk both… I feel so betrayed."

"Aw, don't be like that, Lance. Here, have my last slice of pizza," Hunk says, trying to pacify Lance. And since it's Hunk offering up food that he wants for himself, Lance forgives him. And when Pidge offers to get him one of the cupcakes Kolivan-sensei made, he forgives her too. Lance has some good friends.

x

Keith tries to keep his attention on his companions as they sit and eat and chat, but as always, his eyes are drawn towards Lance as if that guy is a magnet. He can see the bond between Lance and Pidge and Hunk in action, and he really envies them that bond.

Keith snaps back to the group as he realizes Acxa just asked him something about the dojo. He's about to apologize and ask her to repeat herself when Matt, who is also eating with them, speaks up and saves his butt.

"Shiro's been the head sensei here for about three years," Matt tells Acxa. "Before that, Allura-sensei's father, Alfor-sensei, was still running the show, but he retired so he could travel to other dojos more."

Keith is extra glad Matt spoke up now, as he wouldn't have known that. He'd been at the Voltron dojo a little less than a year. Before that, he'd been at the dojo in his hometown, but then his mom had gotten a job abroad and she'd decided that rather than move him to another country where they spoke a different language and risk him getting held back because of the language barrier a second time, she'd just send him to live with his aunt and uncle and their son Shiro. That way if he wanted to visit his old friends it was only a two hour drive rather than an entire day of flying. Not that he really had friends to try and visit. Friends hadn't really happened in his hometown. But here was different. He'd gotten lucky this time.

"And you might want to avoid posing any further questions to Keith," Matt continues, and Keith gets a sinking feeling. "He's got a little unrequited crush on Lance going on, and it tends to make him lose his focus. You know how it is."

That was the problem with Matt. He might save your butt one minute and then throw it under the bus the next.

"Unrequited? I thought for sure they were dating though," Lotor says. "They certainly seem to have a lot of chemistry."

"Wait what?" Keith says, feeling himself redden.

"Well he seemed rather upset when you greeted me so… cordially. Not to mention he did glare at me a lot during practice."

"He was probably glaring at me, not you. He does that a lot," Keith says, trying to affect an offhand demeanor. He's not going to get his hopes up. He knows he doesn't stand a chance with Lance.

"But he seemed rather hostile towards me when I invited him to eat with us," Lotor says.

"You invited him to- What? When?"

"After he dropped the pizzas."

"Why?"

"As I said, I thought there was something between the two of you, and he does seem rather interesting."

"Something between us? As if," Keith says bitterly.

"Do I detect a story here?" Ezor asks, leaning in eagerly.

"Not much of a story. I tried to flirt with him, he shut me down completely. He's hated me ever since we met. I'm probably the one person at this dojo he wouldn't ever consider dating. So, yeah, I like him, but it'll never happen."

"That's actually why Keith flirts with everyone else," Matt says with a twinkle in his eye. "He's hoping that maybe he'll find someone to replace Lance in his heart if he does." Keith adds Matt to his mental list of people who he is going to get revenge on. He even grants Matt first place on that list, since right now the only other person on the list is Shiro and what Matt is doing is way worse than making Keith go carry some coolers with his crush.

"Awww, that's so cute!" Ezor gushes. Narti's hands flap into motion and Keith watches in wonder as she speaks. He might have to learn sign language after this, because that is amazing.

"I agree with Narti," Acxa says. "You're not doing yourself any favors with that kind of thinking. Getting over a crush won't be so easy."

"What, does that mean you're still not over Lotor?" Zethrid asks. Acxa blushes and shoots Zethrid a glare.

"What about you, Zethrid? How're you recovering from your own Lotor-crushed heart?" she hisses back.

"Wow, such drama," Matt comments cheerfully.

"Isn't it great?" Lotor says, grinning. He's soaking it all up.

"We all had crushes on Lotor at some point," Ezor tells them. "But then we discovered that Lotor's too in love with himself to fall for anyone else, and well, look at him. It's not like anyone could ever compete with that!" Lotor preens.

Once again, Narti's hands spring into motion. The Galra judoka watch, and then they all burst out laughing, except for Ezor who blushes furiously and protests "I can't help it if I like beautiful people!"

"Narti said that Ezor joined our little group since she was crushing on all of us and not just me," Lotor says near Keith's ear. Keith enjoys the sensation of Lotor's breath, though he can't help wishing it was Lance's breath instead. Lance, who is currently pouting, and now Hunk is offering him a slice of pizza and Lance is shaking his head but smiling gratefully and Keith just knows he's going to hug Hunk, and-

Crap. He did it again. The girls are still teasing each other, and Matt is laughing along with them, but Lotor's looking at Keith with knowing eyes. How embarrassing.

"I'm gonna go get one of Kolivan-sensei's cupcakes," Keith says, eager to escape. He doesn't return to the group after grabbing his cupcake, instead opting to go sit outside the dojo. He's going to need some alone time to get it together.


	2. Day 2 and Day 3

The next day there's a bit of a time crunch in getting to practice since his dad's car is in the shop and his mom has a night shift and his sister has to get picked up from swim lessons and basically, Lance is dropped off at the dojo almost an hour before practice. Even the senseis don't get there that early. There is literally no one there, and no way for him to get in, and it is hot and there is no shade and he is dying. He makes himself as comfortable as he can sitting on one of those cement bunkers meant to stop cars from pulling in too far but which are more typically used by skateboarders. He fans himself, considering taking off his undershirt because while Pidge gives him crap about his "noodle arms" (still capable of throwing a guy, so what is she talking about?) and his lack of an obvious six-pack when he is shirtless, it might just be worth it to feel a little cooler. On second thought, no. Because he'd still be hot without his shirt, and also then the Galra dojo girls would see that he wasn't totally ripped and laugh at him too and he just couldn't handle that. Lance miserably thought of the nice abs pretty much every other guy must have. Hunk, Matt, Lotor, Shiro-sensei, Coran-sensei, Kolivan-sensei, definitely Zarkon-sensei- you could tell that much even when the guy was wearing his gi, danggit- and Keith. Goddamn Keith. Who was apparently a flirt who had even put moves on Lance's best friends. So not cool.

Lance is still in the parking lot waiting when he hears footsteps and looks up to see the group from the Galra dojo running (yes running) to practice. Somehow, none of them are sweating, and it just makes Lance feel all the more like a disgusting mess. He should just wait til Hunk's ride gets here, tell them he's feeling sick and ask them to take him home. Stupid summer training camp.

Except if he went home now he'd get that much less time to check out the Galra girls in their running outfits. Narti's muscles are even more apparent, and Ezor is just cute as always and Zethrid looks less like a bear and more like a girl who is actually kinda pretty in a weird way, and the booty on Acxa is enough to make Lance believe there's gotta be a god of some sort out there, because wow. And of course Lotor totally outshines them all, somehow that was a given, and Lance should just give up on life already because he has clearly lost and Lotor has totally won.

"Why are you waiting out here in this heat?" Zethrid asks, and Lance is a little grateful to her for acknowledging that yes the current temperature is obscenely high.

"Dojo's not open yet," Lance mumbled miserably.

"Huh, I guess we are a bit early," Zarkon-sensei grunts.

"I told you the pace was too fast," Haggar-sensei hisses. She only ever seems to hiss, rather than actually speak. It makes her even more intimidating.

"If they cannot run at that pace then they are too weak to be here," Zarkon-sensei replies. Everything these two do terrifies Lance and makes him so glad he doesn't train at the Galra dojo.

"There he goes again," Lotor huffs, his eyes showing just a hint of displeasure. Lance is shocked. He thought Lotor was always Mr. Affability. "Dad is always about being the best. The only reason he suggested this program was so he could spy on the Voltron dojo."

"Why would he want to do that?" Lance asks.

He gets scoffed at by all of Lotor's crew.

"Do you seriously not know how prestigious your dojo is?" Acxa asks.

"Well, I know some medal-winning judoka have trained here before but-" Lance stops as he sees everyone shaking their heads pityingly.

"For years the Voltron dojo was top-ranked. All the best judoka came from here. Alfor-sensei was considered one of the greats. Until about 10 years ago when Zarkon-sensei started this program. He did use it to learn training methods like he claimed, but he also used it as a chance to recruit some of the dojo's judoka and some of the best senseis. Those he couldn't recruit, he sabotaged. He still does, to a certain extent," Acxa informs him.

"As a matter of fact, your Shiro-sensei was one he recruited," Lotor says. "He trained with us for a couple of years but ultimately decided to return to the Voltron dojo. Mom was furious that he left us behind."

"And no wonder," Zethrid says. "Shiro-sensei is strong, and a good teacher. Haggar-sensei is right to respect his abilities, and Zarkon-sensei is foolish to disagree and claim that Shiro-sensei will never surpass him."

"Ugh, all this talk about politics is super duper bo-ring," Ezor complains. "Why don't we talk about something else? Like the way you look at Keeeiith?" Ezor perches on the block next to Lance and leans in close. He wonders how she can stand to do so, since he's sweated up a flood since he got here and probably smells like a dumpster. And it's not like she's upwind of him or something, since there. Is. No. Breeze.

"You mean with utter loathing?" Lance manages to choke out after a long moment of shocked silence.

"Oh! He hesitated!" Ezor sing-songs.

"I did not! I was just too surprised to answer!"

Narti makes a motion that looks something akin to swimming. No one translates, and Lance suspects it wasn't actual sign language, but a pantomime of swimming in De Nile.

"Okay, but really! How could I not hate Keith?" Lance protests, trying to defend himself. "The guy is-"

"Charming?" Acxa suggests.

"Buff?" Zethrid inputs.

"Dreamy?" Ezor gushes.

"Perfect?" Lotor smirks.

Lance chooses to ignore them all, and also Narti dramatically fanning herself and swooning as a pantomime of her opinion. At least, he's pretty sure that's what she's doing. It may be hot, but it's not THAT hot, is it?

"-contemptuous, infuriating, obstreperous, conceited, arrogant, a complete asshole?" Lance finishes. "Take your pick, I've got more."

"Sounds like someone's got a bone to pick with Keith," Lotor says idly.

"Please. More like a full skeleton," Lance snarls back. He really does not like this topic. Both the person being discussed, and the fact that they are discussing him.

"He didn't seem all that bad to me," Acxa says.

"Yeah, well you haven't known him as long as I have. You just met the guy yesterday. He always has to one-up people, he has to be the best at everything, nothing anyone else does is ever good enough in his eyes, he's rude, and I am just so sick of him!" Lance snaps. He's so fired up that he doesn't notice that a car has finally pulled into the lot and parked until he hears the sound of keys in the lock of the dojo's door. He turns and sees Keith pulling open the door to the dojo, holding Shiro's keys. He barely hears Lotor's comment that Lance's description of Keith sounds more like Zarkon-sensei, because he is too busy staring at Keith as he returns to Shiro's car. Keith who almost definitely heard him just now.

"Lance, come help us with these!" Shiro calls, and Lance notices that Shiro is hefting some water jugs out of his car. Lance obediently toddles over to the vehicle, telling himself that if his face is red, it's only from the heat. After all, why should he care if Keith heard what he said? It's not like it was a lie or anything. If Keith's feelings got hurt, so what? The truth hurts. Like a bitch.

They take the jugs over to a tap to fill them up while the Galra dojo students head on inside. Shiro fetches a wagon while Lance and Keith fill the first jug in stony silence. Even after Shiro comes back and they wrestle the full jug onto it, they don't make eye contact. Yeah, Keith definitely heard. And for some reason, that makes Lance feel guilty.

x

Practice is Hell. Keith can't focus at all. During warm-ups he falls on his face. Once they actually get to work there's no power in his throws or his matwork. To make matters worse, they do a "machine gun" drill, where everyone takes turns standing at the edge of a crash pad and throwing everyone one at time, and he and Lance end up at the same crash pad. When it's Lance's turn to throw, Keith vows to keep his eyes closed the whole time he's being thrown, but his eyes end up snapping open in midair, and he catches a glimpse of Lance's face as he completes the throw, and for a moment it almost looks apologetic. But Keith looks away before he can see enough to be certain. He doesn't know which would make him feel worse: a Lance who doesn't feel any remorse or a Lance that does. Later, when it's Keith's turn to throw, he ends up off-balancing himself rather than Lance. He probably looks like a white belt in their first week of practice rather than someone who has achieved the rank of second dan. He should be humiliated, but Lance's words keep echoing in his head too much for him to care.

He knows the senseis all notice, and he can see them looking at him with concern. The Voltron dojo senseis at least. The Galra dojo senseis have a malicious glee in their eyes when they look at the way he is today. He has to be careful during water breaks, since they all seek him out and he just doesn't want to talk to them. But of course there's no avoiding Shiro during the ride home.

"You feeling okay?" Shiro asked.

"Mm," Keith offers noncommittally.

"Answer me Keith. Otherwise I'm gonna tell my mom and you know that rather than waiting for an actual answer she's just gonna start lavishing on the care. So unless you want to be on a soup diet and have her put twelve hot water bottles in your bed and be coddled like an infant, I suggest you fess up."

"Do you think I think I have to be the best at everything?" Keith asks.

"That's not an answer. I want an answer."

"And so do I. Do I?"

"Well you can be a bit competitive…"

"Shiiiiiroooo."

"I think it's more like you're afraid of not being the best? Like you think you aren't good enough unless you're the best. Or that people will hate you if you're not the best."

"Yeah well maybe some people hate me if I am," Keith mumbles. Not quietly enough, because Shiro overhears.

"You can't please everyone, Keith," he sighs. He reaches over with his right hand and ruffles Keith's hair before returning his hand to the steering wheel.

"I don't want to please everyone. Just… just some," Keith whispers.

"Well I'll have you know that I, for one don't hate you. Mom and Dad too. And the other senseis like you as well. I promise you're not hated."

Keith keeps quiet this time. He doesn't need a fight with Shiro on top of everything else.

"Anything else bugging you?" Shiro asks after a moment.

"Well… am I rude?" Keith asks.

Shiro laughs, the jerk.

"You can be. But so can we all. You're a lot better than some people I've met."

"And a lot worse than most, huh?" Keith huffs.

"No. Really," Shiro assures him. "I'd say you're probably about average. No ruder than most but not much nicer either. And honestly, people who are much nicer are pretty rare."

"Hm," Keith hums.

"Anything else?"

"Not that you can do anything about. Thanks for caring, Shiro. But there are some things I have to do on my own and what's bugging me right now is probably one of them."

"Probably?"

"Definitely."

"Okay. If you say so. But if you keep having practices like today, I will go through with my threat to get Mom involved."

"I'm sure you will, which is the scary part," Keith mutters to his window. But there is the slightest smile on his face as he says it.

x

Day three of the Galra dojo's visit has them arriving at the dojo to discover a broken AC. Even with the doors open, it's still stifling, and the only moving air is the breathing of the various judoka. In a fit of mercy, the senseis decide to do a conditioning day without gis. Though if you ask Lance, it can hardly be called mercy, since they've done far too many push-ups (various kinds of push-ups and not just judo push-ups), sit-ups, burpees, ultimate burpees, dragonflies, running, jumping, and generally slowly trying to kill everyone there for it to be truly merciful. Lance knows for a fact that he's gonna be sore tomorrow. And even with water breaks every other drill, he still notices a yellow tint to everything that is one of the early signs of dehydration, and the burpees make him lightheaded. He sees a vague look on Hunk's face, and Matt has stumbled a few times, and a few kids have even dared to sit down, and he knows they are all being pushed to the brink. Even the Galra dojo kids are pouring sweat and look actually tired for once, and like everyone else, they've shed as much clothing as can be considered decent.

As they do a shuffled circuit around the mats, Lance finds himself keeping pace with the person next to him since the world feels ever so slightly hazy. Because he's so out of it, he almost doesn't notice that the person in question is Keith. He opens his mouth to apologize for what he said yesterday, because as much as he hates to admit it, he does feel bad. Especially since it seemed to affect Keith a lot. Lance had spent most of his time after practice last night insisting to himself that it could have been anything wrong with Keith, maybe he ate something that disagreed with him or had a cramp or something, but finally, before bed, he acknowledged that maybe he'd been a bit harsh.

Before Lance can apologize however, Shiro calls another water break, and tells them to take a full fifteen minutes so the senseis can set up some electric fans that Coran-sensei went to get. Lance hadn't even noticed Coran-sensei was gone. Everyone stops moving immediately, except Lance because he is just that out of it. He immediately collides with Keith, and falls down in a sweaty heap. He blinks, trying to make the yellow fade, and almost misses the hand being offered to him. He takes it, allowing Keith to help him up.

"Sonks," he says, trying to say both sorry and thanks at the same time. Though he's not sure if he even manages that, since his hearing is a bit weird at the moment and everything sounds really far away. He manages to keep his gait straight as he heads over to where he left his stuff and leans against the wall, sliding down it before rooting around for his water bottle. It isn't there.

Before Lance can panic, his water bottle is shoved into his hand.

"Here," Pidge's voice says from both near and far. "I refilled it for you."

Lance makes a vague noise in lieu of thanks and begins to greedily gulp down water. He's glad the water break is a long one, since it will take time for the new hydration to enter his system. Once he's taken in enough that his stomach is sloshing uncomfortably as if there's a wave pool in there, he pauses, and looks around.

"You did eat something before practice, right?" Pidge asks, and he nods, idly noting Kolivan-sensei heading their way with a fan. And over there is Keith, who he still needs to apologize to, and Lance IS NOT noticing Keith's nice abs (no really, he's not, because Pidge is right next to him and he knows for sure she will notice him noticing and waggle her eyebrows at him and tell Hunk who will also waggle his eyebrows at Lance and the two of them will rib him about it until the end of eternity, because they still tease him about pretty much every crush he's had since even before he actually knew either of them). He's thinking of trying to regain his feet even though he knows it's a bad idea to be upright or in motion just yet thanks to some past experiences, but he needs to go apologize to Keith, when his dehydration-fueled tunnel vision widens out and he finally realizes that Keith is not alone, he is once again with that one Galra dojo group. He doesn't know how he missed them before, since Lotor in particular is practically hanging all over Keith for god knows what reason, though could there even be any reason whatsoever given that they are all sweaty and overheated and in a room that might as well be Death Valley it is so hot? And he notices that all the girls keep glancing his way, and they must have seen him staring. Lance flushes in embarrassment. He is so lame. Still, if anyone says anything about it, he can claim that since he was dehydrated he was just staring into space and not honing in on Keith.

"Since you're in no state to move, should I invite them to come over here?" Pidge asks evilly, and he realizes she has asked him more questions since asking if he ate anything, and he has completely failed to answer her. What a disastrous mistake.

"Shut up. I'm just a little tired."

"And dehydrated?"

"And dehydrated. Speaking of which, how are you not?"

"There are some small advantages to the fact that my body hates me," Pidge says.

"Oh. Cramps?"

"Yup. I mentioned it to Shiro-sensei and he got all red and told me to sit today out and help them make sure everyone stays hydrated. But like, it does legit hurt, I'm not just bullshitting this one."

"Allura-sensei's painkillers aren't strong enough for you?" Lance asks sympathetically.

"Not by a long-shot," Pidge replies. "I'd make myself a hot water bottle to clutch since that tends to help, but…" Pidge trails off and makes a sort of general sweeping gesture, and Lance knows that she is referring to the sheer heat that is already suffocating them all.

"I'm sorry you have to go through that," he tells her.

"Well, when it's this bad, it only seems to last a day so I should be fine tomorrow at least. I'm just glad the senseis are so understanding about it. My PE teacher last year would have me doing twice as much as the rest of you because he insists exercise helps with cramps, even though it really doesn't."

"Let me guess: Iverson?"

"Yup."

"I had that guy for PE before. He's a complete nutjob, yeah? Out to kill all his students by running them into the ground. Both literally and figuratively."

"So I noticed."

Lance drinks some more water and stands up slowly, trying to get himself ready to resume practice when the break ends. When it finally does end, he sighs heavily, and makes it his goal for today to not pass out.


	3. Day 4 Part 1

Keith wakes up the next morning to a call from Lotor. Lotor who had found Keith as everyone was leaving the dojo the first night and had insisted on exchanging numbers. Keith hadn't wanted to give in, but he'd noticed everyone else from the Galra dojo was waiting for Lotor, and since he didn't think he'd be able to dissuade Lotor anytime soon, giving in had been easier. He regretted it now that Lotor is calling him at… Good god is it seriously only five in the morning? That is not cool.

"Whaaaaat?" he moans into the phone.

"Dear me, did I wake you?" Lotor says as if it is unusual to not be up at five in the morning during summer vacation when one has literally nothing to do until the evening's practice.

Keith groans rather than formulate his answer into words. Fuck this guy.

"Well I thought I'd tell you about my brilliant idea right away but I guess I can call back at a later time," Lotor said benevolently.

"You do that," Keith grunts, and hangs up. He fumbles his phone back to the end table by his bedside and rolls over, intent on going back to sleep, but his brain is too busy turning over Lotor's words to drift back off again. He waits about five minutes, willing it all to go away, but finally he caves and sits up and picks up his phone. Lotor picks up after one ring, as if he knew Keith would call back. Which he probably did, the jerk.

"So what's this brilliant idea of yours?" Keith mumbles grumpily.

Even through the phone, he can practically see Lotor's grin.

x

Outside the ice rink, Lance is Lance-ing. He's alternating between freaking out because he's never skated before so how the heck is he supposed to show up Keith, boasting about how he's gonna completely crush Keith for once, making winky faces at random girls passing by and occasionally pointing his finger guns at them, grumbling that Keith is late, and generally being an absolute dork. Pidge and Hunk are loving it. This right here is like 90% of the reason they are friends with Lance. The remaining 10% has to do with common interests, similar senses of humor, and just generally being stuck together since pretty much forever. But mostly it's the entertainment factor of watching Lance do stupid things that they later get to mercilessly tease him for.

Keith finally shows up, looking all pale and emo, even more so than usual since it's so rare that they see him outside the dojo where he's always in his gi. He did go to the same school as everyone else for a few weeks, but he was soon transferred to a special school because he sass-mouthed the principal. Lance had a hard time not pointing out how if Keith didn't have to constantly one-up everyone then he might have lasted a bit longer at the school. Except then it might sound like he actually had a problem with the fact that he didn't have to see Keith for an extra six or so hours a day during the school year. The two hours of practices was already plenty of Keith as far as Lance was concerned.

"Hey sexy," Lotor greets when Keith jogs up. Keith doesn't even have the good graces to apologize for being late.

"Talking about yourself?" Keith shoots back, not particularly out of breath for someone who was running late.

"As a matter of fact, I am rather-" Lotor begins, but he gets no farther before Acxa cuts him off by clamping a hand over his mouth.

"Okay, that's enough of you," she says sweetly, and drags him over towards the ticket window. The others follow a few paces behind.

"Seriously. Don't get him started on talking about himself ever," Zethrid warns. "He'll never shut up."

"Yeah, like the one time I invited him to my gymnastics club, and we had some mirrors on the one wall to help with choreographing floor routines and stuff, and he spent over an hour just checking himself out and fawning over himself. It was disgusting," Ezor adds.

"You have got to be kidding," Lance states. And yet he somehow believes it.

"We wish. Lotor is his own biggest fan," Ezor says, translating the motions of Narti's hands.

"You shouldn't ever compliment him either," Zethrid says, continuing her warning. "If you do he'll insist you keep going until you cover all the things you failed to mention. I complimented a throw he'd used to win a match once before, and then he wouldn't let me be until I had fully described the grace of his body and the power of the throw and the fluidity of his motions and it was all so revolting. I like complimenting good judo. That's my thing. But with him? Never again." Zethrid shuddered.

They reached the ticket window and everyone paid their entrance/skate rental fees, and in they went. They collected their skates, and Narti, who turned out to play hockey back home, helped Lance figure out his skate size. Lance was secretly glad when Keith also asked for her help, confessing he'd never been skating before. Lance's goal for the day was to outskate Keith, and provided Lance didn't spend the whole day falling on his face he actually stood a reasonable chance of doing just that.

Everyone else had been skating before. Lotor, of course, glided over the ice as if he was born to it, Hunk proved to be rather graceful as well, and of course Narti flew out onto the ice like a bat out of hell and had half the rink marveling at her speed and mobility. The rest of the Galra dojo girls weren't too bad either, though they were a little wobbly. Matt and Pidge, however, immediately headed for a small section of the rink cordoned off from the rest, that had repurposed walkers to help beginning skaters. Lance and Keith cast suspicious glances at each other, then followed after Pidge and Matt, figuring they'd take things slow to start with. But Lance didn't plan to take things slow for long.

When Lance first stepped onto the ice, he expected his leg to slide out from under him and cause him to gracelessly flail about on one leg before falling like some sort of comic. But it was surprisingly easy to balance. Using the wall for support, he made his way over to one of the walkers, but already he was considering trying to skate on his own. However, he was feeling cautious today. One thing that had always been his downfall in the past was his tendency to rush into things, and he was not going to do that today. He was going to be careful, and be certain of his limits, and he would figure this out and put Keith in his place. Yeah.

As Lance took control of one of the walkers and began practicing pushing himself along the ice, he took a look over his shoulder to see how Keith was doing. This caused him to lose his balance, not because he couldn't handle the movement, but because Keith looked ridiculous. His feet were far apart and he was bent really far forward at the waist and his expression was half terrified and it was great. Lance was really glad Pidge had talked him into this.

They'd only been skating for about fifteen minutes when it was announced that all skaters should exit the ice so that it could be cleaned. Lance abandoned his walker and took a few careful strokes, making it to the exit on his own. Once the zamboni had done its thing, he vowed he would try some actual skating. He'd probably fall, but so what? He spent two hours falling on a regular basis for judo. The ice was just a little harder than crash pads or mats, that was all.

Lance spared another glance at Keith as his rival exited the ice. Keith looked seriously shaken, and Lance tried not to grin. He was certainly enjoying every minute of this, especially if Keith wasn't. Maybe it was cruel to take such pleasure in Keith's discomfort, but the roles had been the other way around plenty of times and it was so so refreshing to see things from this side for once.

Lotor generously supplied a round of hot chocolate while they waited for the ice to be cleaned, insisting it was just payback for the hospitality the Voltron dojo was showing him and his colleagues. Lance opted not to drink his. With Lotor involved, it was probably drugged. He DID NOT happen to take note of the fact that Keith did the same. Even if Keith was shivering quite a bit and could probably really use the hot cocoa, it was no concern of Lance's what Keith did and didn't drink.

Finally they could return to the ice, and after the eager skaters like Narti were all on the ice, Lance hesitantly put his foot into the rink and then pushed off.

x

Keith was really not cool with this whole skating thing. Whose crazy suicidal idea was this? He was certain he was going to fall, and when he did he would certainly impale himself on this impossible footwear and he would die except he was already bound to die anyway since he couldn't handle everything that was happening right now. He wasn't entirely sure what Lotor was up to, but it involved him, and Lance, and how was he supposed to deal?

After the ice was resurfaced, he watched idly as the skaters exploded out onto it, biding his time before returning to his attempts to master this deathsport. So he was still sitting and shivering (because Lotor had insisted he would warm up once he started skating so just a jacket would be warm enough) when he saw Lance sail out onto the ice.

Once again he was reminded why he was so hopelessly crushing on this guy. He was just so graceful. From the get-go all it had taken to make Keith fall for Lance was a simple roll-out. That was the figurative falling. Since then, he had fallen for Lance plenty of times, and Lance had literally swept him off his feet plenty of times as well, and it was so hard to keep his mouth shut every time they worked together during practice, because all the puns he could be making but if he did Lance would flat out murder him. Nope, it was simply no good.

Keith watched as Lance made one lazy circuit around the rink, then began another, going a bit faster as he gained confidence. But Keith hadn't come here to sit and freeze, so he finally got up and returned to his walker, and tried his best to not fall to his knees with every step. Lance had said he'd never skated before. Either Lance was a liar, or he had some innate knack for this because of course Lance would be good at this, it was just like him. It was also really unfair, because right now Keith really wished he could fly along like that, and he would do so at Lance's side, and it would become a race and Lance would be so annoyed but it would be so fun and maybe, just maybe, Lance would say something nice at the end, like "good race" or "you skate well", but more likely Lance would be lording it in his face that he'd won, because of course Keith would let him win, except if Lance noticed he'd lost on purpose Lance would be pissed so maybe he'd win but then Lance would be upset so he really couldn't-

Lotor interrupted Keith's decaying fantasy by prying his hands off the walker and dragging him towards the main part of the rink.

"Lotor! Wait! Stop! I can barely even stay upright, I can't go out there!" Keith cried, panicked.

"Relax, I'll hold you up," Lotor said. He hauled Keith past where Narti was showing Lance how to stop and heard Lance asking her if she'd teach him how to skate backwards next, and Keith kinda hated Narti because he'd like Lance asking _him_ to teach him things. Like that would ever happen.

Lotor continued skating backwards, pulling Keith along, and Keith struggled to stay upright.

"Relax, hon. Let yourself glide and I shall guide you," Lotor promised. Keith didn't trust that promise. He still didn't trust that promise when a minute later they were turning and doubling back to where Acxa was translating something Narti had said to Lance, and all of a sudden Lotor was letting go and Keith really should have seen that one coming, and he was on a crash course for Lance, but then at the last minute Lance moved and then Keith found himself being caught by Narti. Oh thank god. He thanked her profusely, and she smiled in a sort of "It's okay, I understand" kind of way,and he tried to ignore the disgusted look on Lance's face as he managed to stagger over to a wall to hold himself up again. Lance skated off, and Narti and Acxa followed after him, leaving Keith alone with the treacherous snake who was at fault for everything.

"What a shame. That was an excellent opportunity for you," Lotor said calmly, as if he hadn't just tried to murder Keith.

"Yeah, dying together. Sounds great," Keith drawled sarcastically.

"You would not have died. You are a judoka, and a good one from what I've seen. You would never shame your dojo or your senseis by dying from a fall."

"Maybe the fall wouldn't kill me, but the humiliation would. That or an irate Lance. Thanks a ton, Lotor."

"Such sass. I'm only trying to help."

"Help me into an early grave, maybe." Or that's what Keith meant to say, but he only got out "Hel-" before he noticed how very close Lotor's face was to his, and swallowed before trying again.

"Uh, Lotor? Do you think you could back off a little? Please?" God he sounded so feeble and pathetic.

"As I said, I'm only trying to help," Lotor murmured, and then their lips locked, and somehow because Lotor had been so close Keith wasn't all that alarmed by it and let it happen. He tried to enjoy it, because hey a really hot guy was kissing him, but said hot guy was also a total snake who he could not trust and also he really wished it was Lance. With a sigh, he broke off the kiss, pushing Lotor away.

"Sorry, but there's just no way I'm gonna fall for you," Keith said.

"I don't expect you to."

"Then what are you-"

"How many times do I have to say it? I'm helping you."

"How is this helping anything?"

"Because there's a certain someone who is currently sending furious glances this way in such a manner that I cannot help but think that perhaps things are not as hopeless between you and he as you presume," Lotor replied.

"Lotor, you-!" Keith was almost glad when Lotor cut him off with the second kiss, as he hadn't really thought of what would come after the "you" yet. But almost only counts in horseshoes, hand grenades, and nuclear warfare and things hadn't escalated quite that far. Yet.

Before Keith could get away from Lotor the second time, Lotor himself pulled away. Or was pulled away, as Keith found himself being spun around and Lance was dragging on his wrist, pulling him away. What a shame Keith was such a lousy skater that of course he ended up doing a face plant.

x

The fury Lance felt made absolutely no sense. There was literally no reason for him to be angry right now. So Lotor and Keith had been kissing. Big whoop. Except it WAS. But WHY? He hated Keith, and he hadn't formulated a particularly positive impression of Lotor either. So if he disliked both of them, why should it bother him? Maybe because he disliked them both he hated the idea of them finding happiness together? Except after the camp was over, it's not like Lotor and Keith would be able to see each other that much, which would be sheer misery for them. But why else would he be so upset?

Keith falls over no less than five times before Lance gets him to the nearest exit and hauls him off the ice. Keith's nose is slowly trickling out a small stream of blood, probably as a result of that first face plant, and so Lance hauls him off to the bathroom to clean that up. Keith doesn't even protest anything, and Lance wonders if Keith got a concussion as well as a bloody nose. He'll have to text Shiro-sensei later and let him know so he can do a concussion test.

Lance is a bit surprised when Keith finally does speak.

"Thanks, Lance," Keith whispers.

"Oh, uh, you're welcome? What exactly am I even being thanked for here?" Lance replies.

"Back there. I- Lotor's- That guy is really hard to deal with."

"I dunno, you seemed like you knew what you were doing." Lance feels an odd pang in his chest as he says it, and suddenly he's afraid he's going to have to apologize for interrupting them, because he really doesn't want to apologize for that for some reason. Though he does still need to apologize for what he said yesterday...

"Not really. I never know what I'm doing with him. Or more like, I never know what he's doing, and he has this way of involving other people without bothering to ask."

Keith is shivering a bit again, and Lance takes pity on him.

"So, uh, like, you wanna get something to eat or drink? To help you warm up?"

"Hot chocolate would be pretty nice right about now. Let me get my wallet from the coin lockers."

"No need, I've got mine with me," Lance says, indicating a pocket inside his coat. "This time's on me." He goes to leave the bathroom, but he doesn't quite make it out before Keith calls out to him again.

"Hey Lance?" Lance turns. "You're a really good skater." Lance turns back around quickly, hoping that Keith doesn't see his blush. He probably looks really weird, coming out of the bathroom bright red like this, but as long as Keith doesn't see the effect of his words. Something inside Lance curls up contentedly, and despite all his plans to stick it to Keith today, he realizes he won't be doing any gloating about his mad skating skills at all.


	4. Day 4 Part 2

They all have to go home and change before they go to the dojo for practice. The day's practice splits everyone up and pairs them off based on experience, the most advanced judoka with the newest ones. They then work on whatever the junior pupil wants to for a while. Lance's partner asks to work on defensive techniques, and so he spends a while showing the kid how to drop his body low and place a hand on their opponents back, and once the kid has that down, they work on counter throws- mostly ogoshi since it's one of the few the kid already knows. Knows being a very loose term. After about the twelfth time, Lance is tired of telling this guy the same things over and over. Every time it repeats: first the kid will try and lift with his back, and Lance will tell him to stop doing that lest he hurt himself. Then the kid overcompensates and doesn't lift at all, and merely spins Lance around him.

"More pull, get lower," Zarkon-sensei says tersely as he walks past. Lance would appreciate the sensei's help, except the kid seems terrified of Zarkon and only gets worse. In fact, Lance notices that Zarkon-sensei, and Haggar-sensei as well, leave behind a trail of frightened judoka. Even the kids from the Galra dojo seem more subdued once their senseis walk past. Lance remembers what he was told two days before, about Zarkon-sensei's insistence on being the best. He feels kinda sorry for the Galra dojo judoka. He likes to win, but being pressured to do so all the time seems rather stressful.

And what if Keith always tries to be the best because he feels pressure to do so?

Lance quickly crushes whatever treacherous corner of his mind insists on thinking that.

At the end of practice, the senseis tell them to find a partner for randori. Lance grins, and is about to pair up with Hunk before he finds himself facing off against Acxa. He's about to explain that no, he and Hunk always spar together, it's like their thing, but already they're being told to begin, and she grabs his gi and the grip fighting begins. The two circle, trying to gain the advantage and looking for the right moment to go for a throw, and they're moving a lot but have yet to try a single throw and then Lance hears Lotor's voice.

"My my, Keith. No need to use ashi barai like that. You've already swept me off my feet."

Acxa proves herself to be a surprisingly decent human being by not slamming Lance into the mats right away. She waits until he recovers and attempts a throw of his own to do so. But that doesn't mean she's the better judoka or anything. He just was still a little upset by what he heard. Except no he IS NOT upset by what he heard, because that would mean he cared, and he DOES NOT CARE ABOUT KEITH AND LOTOR.

And then they switch partners and since they're supposed to grab the closest person, he finds himself paired with Lotor.

"So Lance, planning on making me fall for you?" Lotor asks with one eyebrow raised.

"Sure, why not. Try not to fall too hard," Lance says through clenched teeth. Lotor smirks.

"Well, just so you know, I like to be on top."

"You're gross."

"How so? Any judoka would. After all, you can't win a match on the bottom."

"Like you were talking about matwork."

"Tsk, tsk, such a dirty mind."

Lance doesn't listen any further since he's currently airborne, but he twists to make sure he doesn't land on his back and immediately turtles so that Lotor can't pin him. Lotor tries to roll him over, but Lance lunges forward and gains his feet, and Lotor follows and they begin grip-fighting again.

Lance is relieved when a partner change is called, except then he finds himself face to face with Keith. Keith who looks startled and mildly nervous. The moment they're told to begin, Lance holds nothing back, and goes straight for ippon seoi-nage. To his surprise, he is able to complete the throw, and he quickly drops after Keith so he can put the arm he still holds in jigotai. Within seconds Keith has already tapped out.

That. Was. Weird. Keith, black belt Keith, second dan Keith, just lost to Lance without so much as a fight. And this after Lance had proven to be the better skater. Lance would have expected Keith to clean the mats with him as a way of reaffirming his superiority. Unless maybe Keith is so humiliated by being shown up that he has lost all confidence in himself and can't win as a result?

Or maybe it was because of something Keith had overheard Lance saying two days ago. What all had Lance said again?

No, he was being ridiculous. Keith always complained that Lance never took things seriously. Therefore there was no way Keith would ever take anything Lance said to heart.

Before Lance knows it, they've finished randori and bowed out, and everyone is gathering their things to go home. Lance shrugs off the jacket of his gi, only sort of hearing as Shiro asks Keith to get a scale out of the closet since a couple of the judoka want to check their weight. He might not have noticed at all, except then he hears Lotor saying in a low voice "Looks like I might get a chance to pick up what I started earlier," and suddenly Lance just knows that Lotor is about to follow Keith and ambush him. And the way Keith has been today, there's no way he can handle Lotor on his own. Lance may not like Keith, but there is no way he's done anything to deserve that. He has to warn Keith.

Lance heads to the back of the dojo where the hallway with closet is and walks through the open door. He sees Keith silhouetted against a lot of random boxes- full of extra gis and belts and Voltron dojo apparel. Keith looks up, and his brow furrows as he registers that it is Lance standing there.

"Uh, I uh… Need any help?" Lance says cheerfully. Smooth. Well what is he supposed to say? "Hi I think Lotor is a total creepazoid who may be targeting you and I'm not sure you can take care of yourself so I came to watch your back even though I hate your guts, you're welcome"? Yeah, somehow, that seems like a good way to make their relationship even worse. Not that Lance has a problem with that or anything, but he also doesn't have a problem with it getting better… Scratch that last. What is wrong with Lance today?

"Not really?" Keith says, though it comes out like a question.

"Oh, uh, okay. Um, want some company?"

"Lance I'm just grabbing a scale for Shir-" Keith abruptly cuts off as the room darkens. Lance whirls around to see that the door has closed. He fumbles blindly for the handle, but when he finds it, it doesn't turn. It's locked.

"What the fuck?" he exclaims.

"What's wrong?" Keith asks, sounding ever so slightly panicked. Is he maybe afraid of the dark?

"It's locked."

"Aw, shit. I guess the door locks automatically. Well, I'm sure Shiro will be coming to ask about the scale soon, or the people who wanted to check their weights, since everyone wants to go home."

"That's a surprisingly pragmatic view."

"Well what else can we do? Break down the door? For one, the only way I know how to do that is one of us throws the other into it, and the person getting thrown would probably get hurt, and for two, Shiro would tan my hide if I broke the dojo at all. Allura-sensei too, most likely."

"And Coran-sensei. He was pretty close to Alfor-sensei. To the point where it was almost like worship. So he would end anyone who damages the dojo too."

"Great, so I'd be dead three times over."

"I'd be just as dead, Keith."

"Nah, Shiro wouldn't hurt a student. Unless that student happens to be his cousin because family is special. Yay."

Keith's voice is so bland that Lance can't help but laugh.

"But I guess you would still have Allura-sensei and Coran-sensei to worry about," Keith adds.

He can't see it, but Lance shudders.

"Yikes. Allura-sensei mad at me might be worse than death. I can just picture all the ultimate burpees she'd have me doing. I think I would hurl. Or pass out. But probably hurl. Or maybe hurl and then pass out."

"Not on the mats, please. No amount of mopping will be enough to make me forget that there was once vomit there."

"Then I probably shouldn't tell you about the time Hunk made the mistake of having ice cream before practice."

"Please don't."

"Or the time when they had one of those climbing ropes set up, and Matt tried using it as a swing but ended up getting spun around a bunch."

"I really don't need to know these things."

"Just be glad they didn't allow me to come test to belt up last time. There probably wouldn't be a single safe spot left on the mats with how sick I was."

"Oh god. You need to stop."

"Traumatized yet?"

"Very."

"Sorry, sorry." Lance laughs. He then remembers he's got another apology he still has yet to give.

"Also, um, sorry about the other day. I… I may have said some unfair things about you."

There's a long silence. Yeah, Lance should have known better than to say anything. Either Keith never cared and so doesn't give a crap, or if he did care then there's no way he'll forgive Lance so easily. Whatever.

"I- I think you may have been kinda right," Keith whispers, and if Lance could see he would gather Keith up in a hug because he sounds so weak right there and enemy or not, Lance won't let anyone be alone when they sound like that. "I just- I guess that- You know, popular kids are always good at something. They're fast or they're smart or they tell the funniest jokes but they always are people who shine. And since I don't really know how to make friends, I guess I thought that if I was good at things, people would be friends with me. Though it never really worked. Honestly I still don't know how I became friends with Matt. Like, yeah I tried pretty hard to make friends here, but while I get along with most of them, I don't know what it was I did right to become 'best buds' with Matt. But anyway, I guess I just got into this mindset that if I'm not the best I won't be good enough for everyone else. And I guess I am kinda rude too, but that's… I just really don't get how to be social."

Lance stares in the direction Keith's voice is coming from, shocked. This- What- Where did this- What is going on? Did Keith just _confide_ in him? In _him_ , Lance McClain? Alright, new theory, Keith has been abducted by aliens. That's the only way to explain what all has been going on today. And Lance is willing to bet Lotor somehow orchestrated the abduction.

"Dude. One: not all popular kids are good at things. Some just are really cool and that's what draws people to them. Two: not being the best doesn't mean you're not good enough. Three: what do you even have to be good enough for? The right to exist? Because you've already been born, what more right do you need? No one has the authority to judge that you should not exist. They may claim to, but they're full of shit and so don't listen to them. Four: I believe your friendship with Matt came from you sharing a candy bar with him. He went on for days about how great a guy you were. Pidge told me so. Five: You can't learn to be social if you never try it. You were only at our school for like, three weeks, but in that time I saw more than a few people try to talk to you and you just totally aired them. They'd much rather you be a totally awkward weirdo dork than a jerk who thinks he's too good to talk to them. Take it from someone who IS a totally awkward weirdo dork."

There's another long silence, and Lance is glad for the dark because he is totally blushing after that speech.

"Um, thanks? But, uh, you're not a totally awkward weirdo dork. You're like, none of those things."

Lance has been wondering for a little bit now why no one has come for the scale yet, but now he is very glad they haven't because he probably looks like a beet right about now. Keith is so cu-

NO. No. He will not go there. That kind of thinking is not allowed. Do you hear, brain?

"Oh I totally am. But anyway, why don't you flirt with me?" Shit. Lance had been trying to change the topic, but why did he have to go with that? Goddamnit. Especially since it wasn't like he had any reason to feel hurt if Keith didn't flirt with him. He certainly didn't have a crush on Keith or anything like that. Nooooooo. He'd better not have a crush on frickin' Keith.

"Um, because you rejected me on my first day here?" Keith says.

"What? When?"

"Before practice. You and Hunk and Pidge and Matt came over to meet me, and I was putting on my gi, I tried to flirt with you and you shut me down. I'm not gonna keep pushing when someone's made it clear they resent my attention."

Lance tries to remember that first day after Keith came to the dojo. All he can seem to remember is that embarrassing fit of show-offiness when he challenged Keith to a match and (got his ass handed to him) couldn't quite gain the upper hand. And also that weirdness right after he introduced himself to Keith and-

Wait wait wait a minute. That couldn't have been… But Pidge and Hunk did say Keith was subtle, so could it have been?

"Um, when you say you tried to flirt with me, what exactly do you mean?"

"I asked you to teach me how to fall. As in fall… for you. Y'know?"

Lance cringes. Yup, it was that alright. Apparently Keith has either improved his flirting game a lot since then, or he was having the mother of all off days.

"Dude, I thought you meant like actual falling. I totally missed that!"

"Oh. Really? Uh, but well, you did say you are just so sick of me so why does it matter now all of a sudden?"

"It doesn't," Lance replies tersely. He hates himself for ever bringing this up.

"R-right."

Finally, FINALLY the door opens, and Lance has never been happier to see… nevermind. He will never ever in a million years be happy to see Lotor.

"Sorry to interrupt this little tryst but Shiro-sensei was wondering what was taking Keith so long," Lotor says.

"T-tryst?!" Lance exclaims, half embarrassed and half aghast at the sheer gall of this guy to set them up and then act all innocent. Because the locked door was definitely Lotor's doing. It had to be. Lance didn't know why or how or anything, but this had to be Lotor's doing.

"Well what else would you be doing in a dark closet together?" Lotor says, and walks away. But Lance catches the smirk on his face before he turns around. He even keeps looking at them as he turns, as if he was making sure Lance saw it. The creep.

"I really don't trust that guy," Lance mutters.

"Amen to that," Keith says. His voice is almost right in Lance's ear, causing him to jump. Keith steps past Lance, the scale in his hand.

"Keith." Lance finds himself catching Keith's wrist for no fathomable reason.

"What?" Keith asks.

"About Lotor. Do you want some help dealing with him? Like, I don't know how much I could do, but with two people we'd have twice the vigilance, a-and if we got our friends involved- like Pidge and Hunk and Matt- then he might not be so… hard to deal with."

"That sounds... great."

"Cool. Give me your number and once I confer with Pidge and Hunk I can text you when to meet us for a strategy meeting. Or I guess since I'm counting on Pidge to tell Matt anyway, he can text you."

Smooth, Lance, smooth. Like sandpaper. It probably sounds like he's trying to hook up with Keith or something.

"No, it's fine. I don't mind giving you my number."

"Okay then." Lance goes with Keith to hand over the scale, then leads the way over to his bag and pulls out his phone. Keith rattles off his digits and Lance inputs them into his phone, saving the new contact. He has Keith check it over to make sure he got it right, and then texts Keith's phone so Keith will have his number and not just ignore his texts. They separate and Lance almost runs outside. He IS NOT embarrassed or anything. Just whoever is picking him up is probably here and he doesn't want to keep them waiting.

x

After practice, Pidge noticed how Lance followed after Keith. And she noticed how Narti followed after Lance. She noticed how Zethrid asked Kolivan-sensei to help her with some throw or other- Pidge could never remember their names, just how to do them- and how Ezor managed the not-so-difficult feat of coaxing Coran-sensei into talking about his glory days, and noticed how Lotor and Acxa approached Shiro-sensei and Allura-sensei and after a brief exchange and a lot of blushing on the part of the two senseis, Shiro-sensei ended up rubbing Allura-sensei's shoulders. And she noticed that Narti reappeared, and Acxa started chatting with the students who wanted to check their weight, and all in all everyone forgot for a while about the scale and its retrieval.

Pidge also sees when a parent starts to come into the dojo, waiting for one of the kids who was going to weigh in, and Ezor intercepts them while Coran-sensei continues his story- which is more reenactment than simple story now- oblivious to his vanished audience, and Lotor goes over in the direction of the back hallway with the bathrooms and changing rooms and the storage closet. After a minute, he reappears, and then Lance and Keith come walking out together, which is like a sign of the apocalypse or something because they actually seem to be at peace with each other for once. They hand over the scale and then go to Lance's bag, and Lance's phone is pulled out. Interesting.

Pidge watches as Lance races off. She then approaches where Lotor and his crew are still hanging out. She's kind of amazed how much freedom the Galra dojo students have, that they can even go back to their hotel on their own time. Though she did hear from Lance that they apparently run to and from practice.

"I know what you're doing," she tells Lotor.

"Pardon?"

Rather than give a verbal response, Pidge simply crosses her arms, shifts her weight to one side, and raises her eyebrows in a classic "mmhmm" look. She holds it until she sees Lotor starting to get nervous.

"And I think I can help you," she finishes, uncrossing her arms and holding out a hand.

"Looking forward to working with you, my dear," Lotor replies with a smile.

x

That night, Lance dreams of that first day Keith was at the dojo. This time, when he hears the line, he can hear the slight lilt to Keith's tone, playful and flirtatious. It's still not super obvious, but he can sense it.

And then Lance hears himself sneering "What kind of black belt doesn't know how to fall? Unless you stole the belt from someone else? Let's see you prove you earned it."

Lance cringes as he realizes what an ass he must have seemed like. It wasn't even Keith's comment that made him challenge Keith. It was just him having a chip on his shoulder and being determined to prove that he was badass and could beat a black belt.

But the dream does not follow the real-life event after that. Instead, in that weird way dreams have, the situation somehow becomes Keith ignoring his challenge- or maybe they had their match and Lance somehow didn't notice- and Keith starts making more attempts to flirt. And Lance hears himself _flirting back_.

"You must be quite the judoka. You haven't even thrown me and already you've taken my breath away."

"I feel like such a loser right now because with just one look you won me over."

The lines go back and forth, and it's fun, and Lance feels himself grinning, and then he wakes up.

Oh. Shit. There's no denying it now.

He cannot let anyone find out. Pidge and Hunk and Matt would never let him hear the end of it, and Keith probably lost interest in him ages ago. Lance hates himself a bit right now. Why did he have to go and realize he has feelings for a guy long after he already ruined any chances with him?

Realizing the truth really hurts. Like a bitch.


	5. Days 5, 6, and 7

When Lance arrives at the coffee shop where they all agreed to meet, Keith is the only one there. Lance feels certain his cheeks must be coloring as he walks up and says hi, and he's certain his voice must sound funny, and yet Keith just grunts a return greeting. Lance takes a seat at the table Keith has snagged and looks around. Since when has being alone with Keith been so awkward? Oh yeah, since he realized he had a crush on Keith. Actually no, it started even before that. Probably since about the time Lotor showed up and made things weird.

"You know what, I'm gonna go order a drink," Lance says, because it is morning and morning is a time for coffee, and also because it's been a solid thirty seconds and Keith has yet to say anything other than his monosyllabic acknowledgment of Lance's existence.

"Shouldn't we wait for everyone else to arrive?" Keith asks.

As if on cue, both their phones ding, and they both fish them out of their pockets.

"Hunk says he won't be able to make it. He's… indisposed," Lance informs Keith. Poor Hunk. Every now and then he has some bowel troubles, and it seems like today is one of those days. Lance wonders if Hunk will be at practice.

"Huh," Keith grunts to let Lance know he heard. "Well Matt says their dad's car got a flat tire so they're gonna have a hard time making it as well."

"I guess Mr. Holt shouldn't have gone and lost his spare tire," Lance jokes. When he gets a puzzled look from Keith, he elaborates. "Mr. Holt used to be a lot heavier, and had a really big belly. Which is sometimes called a spare tire? But then Mrs. Holt made him go on a diet and work out a bunch so he lost a lot of weight so he no longer has his spare tire stomach." Keith still doesn't laugh, and Lance is ready to give this guy up for a lost cause. It really makes him question his crush on Keith, since what exactly is attractive about a guy with no sense of humor?

"Anyway, if Matt and Pidge and Hunk all aren't coming, is there even any point in having this meeting? Maybe we should cancel," Keith sighs.

"You can go if you want, but I want me some coffee, so I'm sticking around. Just remember that if you do leave now, you'll be completely unprepared for Lotor this afternoon."

"I'm pretty sure I'll be unprepared either way," Keith grumbles, but he's still seated at the table when Lance gets back with his cappuccino five minutes later.

"Alright, I guess the meeting is on then," Lance states. He takes a sip of his drink and sighs happily. Yup, coffee. It's good.

Keith grunts as his response yet again, and Lance is getting really tempted to reach down Keith's throat in an attempt to find whatever words he actually has in him.

"So I figure the most dangerous spot for you right now is practice," Lance continues, figuring that he's probably going to have to do most of the talking here. "Especially since the senseis seem to like pairing you and Lotor up. So I guess the first step will be for the rest of us to stick close to you as much as possible so that we can partner up with you for drills. Sound good?"

"I guess. Lotor's actually not as bad during practice. He's pretty serious about judo, y'know."

"The not-so-witty banter I received during randori with him yesterday begs to differ. So, we stick close during practice. That's step one."

"Step one? What, is this going to be some multi-phase plan? Lance, you do realize Lotor's only going to be around for like another week, right?"

"I just meant that there's no one thing we can do that will magically keep Lotor away from you so we will have to be doing multiple things at once and that is the first one I thought of. Yeesh. Well, I suppose there are a couple of 'one things' we could do, but they're kinda illegal, and my parents would kill me if I broke the law."

"Okay then. Right. What's step two?"

"Step two would hinge on protecting you before and after practice. That's gonna be a bit harder to swing, since you come and go with Shiro-sensei, and he's usually the first person to arrive and the last person to leave. And since Lotor doesn't have to worry about transportation, he can stick around as long as he wants. So to deal with that, we can either split things up so the rest of us are coming early and leaving late to make sure you don't go unattended, or you could start having sleepovers with Matt. Or maybe a combination thereof."

"How about we go with the first because having a sleepover seems kinda…"

"Don't tell me you've never been to a sleepover."

Keith shakes his head.

"Then definitely both, because we have to change that."

"You really shouldn't just volunteer Matt's house like that."

"Or you could host him." Lance rolls his eyes. He almost says "or you could spend the night at my place" but no no no that is a bad idea, BAD IDEA. For one, he's ranted to his family about how much he hates Keith before, for two, his family is very nosy and his house is small and there is virtually no privacy to be found, and for three, he and Keith aren't even friends. Just uneasy allies against Lotor. That may be enough to get them to spend time together, but it is not enough to constitute having sleepovers together.

Though maybe if Keith stays at Matt's place, Lance can convince Pidge to have a movie night that night…

No. Ulterior motives are not cool, Lance McClain. This is about Keith. Not about your stupid crush. So don't even go there.

"So I guess we'll have to run that by everyone when we see them," Keith says. "Anything else?"

"Well you probably should avoid being alone in public places. Lotor could show up anywhere."

"That won't be a problem. I rarely go out anyway."

"Right, right. I forgot you're a total lame brain," Lance teases.

"Better a lame brain than a totally awkward weirdo dork," Keith drawls.

"Hey! You said you didn't think I was!" Lance protests, but then he notices the slight upward quirking of Keith's mouth.

"Oh, did I? Well then, I guess I've changed my mind," Keith replies, the corners of his mouth twitching up even more. Lance can't help but laugh.

"And I guess I'm just gonna have to prove you wrong."

"I'm looking forward to it, Lance."

x

As he's leaving the coffee shop, Keith makes it about five yards past the door before he comes to a realization that stops him in his tracks: they had a normal conversation.

THEY HAD A NORMAL CONVERSATION!

Come to think of it, it isn't even the first time. That time at the ice rink, that was pretty normal. And so was in the closet- though that one didn't happen under normal circumstances so maybe it didn't count? And did making plans to avoid Lotor count as normal? Well it did seem like something gossipy girls might talk about so maybe? Whatever. He's just gonna let himself enjoy the fact that he has had at least three whole conversations with Lance now where they weren't insulting each other with every other breath.

Part of him wants to insist that Lotor is right and maybe he can work things out with Lance. But then he remembers that a: Lotor is the one who said that, and b: Lance is a nice enough guy that even if they are total enemies, he will still stand up for someone if the need rises. Once the threat of Lotor is gone, Lance will almost definitely return to spitting insults in Keith's face and scowling the moment Keith walks into the room.

As he and Lance agreed to, Keith calls Matt to brief him on their plans. Matt readily agrees to show up early for practice, which is a relief, and promises to talk to his parents about a sleepover. Or as Matt calls it, a slumber party. Keith wonders if there's a difference between the two.

Practice that day goes smoothly. As promised, Lance, Pidge, Hunk, and Matt all stick close and keep Lotor at bay. He does partner with a few other people, and even does a couple of drills with Acxa and Zethrid, but he doesn't have to deal with Lotor and it is great.

x

The problem with looking out for Keith is that it means Lance has to take one for the team sometimes and intercept Lotor himself. He feels like gagging every time he does so. And he knows Lotor is aware of how Lance feels about it, since Lotor seems highly amused every time Lance partners up with him. Still, he promised to help out, and if it's between dealing with this slimeball himself or feeling those nasty pangs of jealousy seeing Lotor and Keith together, he'll take the slimeball. Being jealous seems a little wrong given that he's the one who has kept Keith at a distance all along, but at least Lotor is unpleasant enough that Lance feels perfectly justified being disgusted to be near him.

Saturday, day two of protecting Keith and day six of the Galra dojo's visitation rolls around with the news that Matt and Pidge's parents have approved them having friends stay overnight on Thursday. Lance and Hunk are invited as well as Keith. When Pidge gives Lance a look at his quick acceptance, he even manages to play it off pretty smoothly, insisting that even Keith can't possibly bring down the fun experience of a movie night at the Holt house. Which is true. Mrs. Holt makes the best popcorn. She can manage the perfect amount of butter, and she also whips up caramel and cheese popcorns, and has even managed to perfect the "hurricane popcorn" that Hunk loves. Plus they've got super comfy bean bags and loads of blankets to make a nest in and a pretty sweet TV setup and you really couldn't ask for more.

The day ends, however, with a slight disaster. Lance is on duty to stay late with Keith, and they're emptying out the water jugs for Shiro when Lotor approaches unseen. Neither of them is really sure how it happened, but one minute they're pouring the excess water down a drain and the next Lotor is leaning on Keith and Keith has this stricken expression on his face and Lance is sure his face looks about the same.

"Sooooo. What do you say we spend some quality time tomorrow, you and me?" Lotor says to Keith. "I was thinking maybe I could stop by your place and we could hang out. Maybe watch some movies and chill."

Lotor's voice is way too suggestive. This is not okay. Lance needs to do something now, for Keith's sake as well as the sake of his own stupid unrequited feelings for Keith.

"Actually, Keith and I have plans tomorrow," Lance says. Keith stares at him, and Lance tries not to flinch at how obvious Keith is making his improvisation.

"Oh? Do you really?"

"Yeah, we were gonna go to the pool with Pidge and Hunk and Matt."

Crap. There he went volunteering people for things again. And why the pool? Anyone could go to the pool. It was a public pool! Danggit, Lance. But a small part of him acknowledged the desire to see Keith in swim trunks. He really did tend to think with his hormones, just like Keith had said that first day.

"What a shame. I didn't bring any swimwear, and father and mother get so stingy about spending money. It's not like we're starved for cash, and yet they always nag me about my spending. And swimming would be such a good work out," Lotor sighs. Lance can't believe it. Did his crazy half-assed spur-of-the-moment plan actually work? Good job McClain!

"That IS too bad," Lance says as sincerely as he can manage. Which is not very sincerely at all.

"Yeah. A real pity," Keith agrees in much the same tone. "Guess we'll see you Monday then, Lotor." The two of them flee, but they only just make it into the dojo before Keith hisses to Lance "I don't have swim trunks with me either!"

"You don't?" Lance asks. Keith rolls his eyes as he shakes his head.

"I don't really swim that often, plus we weren't sure how long my mom's job would keep her abroad so I thought I might be going back home soon. A lot of my stuff is in storage back home, and somehow, I don't think Shiro's parents are going to want to drive me two hours there and back so I can go to a pool.

"Relax. You can borrow my brother's. He's about your size."

"You have a brother?"

"Brothers. It's a pretty big family. We're awesome."

"They're not something super embarrassing are they? Because if you're just trying to get me to wear some ridiculous floral print board shorts-"

"Relax. They're plain red with a single white stripe on the side. I'll get my mom to wash them tonight so they'll even be all nice and clean for you."

"Alright. Thanks."

"No problem. Now I've just gotta let Pidge and Hunk know we're going swimming tomorrow."

"You know, that whole making plans for other people is something you might want to work on. It could really bite you in the butt one of these days."

"Yeah, I know."

x

It's not a date.

Lance was just trying to get him out of a bad situation. And he already texted Keith that Pidge and Hunk had both confirmed they were going, and the Holt's could give Keith a ride to the pool. There would be other people there, and it was just to avoid having Lotor invading his personal space, so it was not a date.

And yet Keith couldn't help but feel that maybe it kinda was. Maybe he was getting a ride from the Holt's, but he knew thanks to Matt that Pidge hated the sun, and Matt always looked out for his "baby sister" (as if a year's age difference was that big a deal), and maybe Hunk would have problems again and then it could be just him and Lance.

Doing… what exactly?

What did one usually do when hanging out with friends at the pool? Keith had gone to pools with his parents before, but that was ages ago, and had been mostly for the sake of teaching him to swim. There was a waterpark they sometimes went to, which was the only reason he owned a pair of swim trunks that actually fit , but that was different than going to a pool to hang out.

Knowing Lance though, it's probably going to end up being a competition of some sort. This realization causes Keith's good mood to plummet drastically. Yeah. Lance will probably want to race, and will either win and lord it over Keith until the end of time or sulk about losing and insist on trying again and again until both their muscles are jelly and Hunk physically drags Lance out of the pool to make him stop and Lance will throw a tantrum which would be kinda cute if it weren't directed at Keith. Neither option appeals to Keith.

As soon as he gets home from practice Keith goes straight to his room to pack. He needs to shower, but packing comes first. He raids his uncle's "beach bag" (he's not sure anyone in the Shirogane family has ever been to the actual beach, but that's what it's called) and grabs sunscreen, goggles, and a thick fluffy towel. He also roots around for a swim cap but doesn't find one. He'll have to figure out what to do with his hair then, since it will get in his face and blind him if his head goes underwater at all. Once he has borrowed all that, he goes and stuffs it all in his backpack, dumping out the school supplies that are still in there since he never bothered to empty it out once the school year ended. Only after getting ready does he finally take his shower.

The next morning, Keith spends a ridiculous amount of time getting dressed considering he's going to change once they get to the pool. He takes so long, in fact, that the Holt's arrive and he has to just go with what he had on right then and also ended up skipping breakfast. His aunt has a strange look in her eyes as she waves goodbye- the same look his uncle had when he dropped Keith off at the skating rink the other day. Keith may have been very careful about what he wore that day too. Maybe they're on to him. But it's not like taking care with one's appearance is a crime or anything!

Lance and Hunk are already waiting when they get to the pool. They head into the changing rooms and Lance hands over the swim trunks as promised, which thankfully are exactly as Lance described. Keith opts not to comment on the fact that Lance's are identical except that they are blue instead of red. But he kinda likes that they are matching. Just a little.

As soon as they have found a spot to put their stuff down, Lance, Matt, and Hunk are all charging towards the water, and with three explosive slashes, they plunge in. Some girls nearby scream a little, but in the sort of way that girls use to encourage rather than show actual distress. Keith is sure that as soon as Lance surfaces, he'll be all over the girls, but instead his head appears at the edge of the pool and calls out "C'mon you two chickens, get in! The water's great!"

"Probably because you warm it up by peeing in it!" Pidge retorts.

"I do not!" Lance protests angrily. "Do you have any idea how unsanitary that is! It is absolutely disgusting!"

The girls are giggling, and surely Lance must notice them by now. But he is still looking at Keith and Pidge expectantly.

"I've still gotta put some sunscreen on," Keith replies.

"Ah, the burdens of pasty people," Lance sighs dramatically, and then turns and he's going to go flirt with the girls, Keith just knows it, except wait, no, he's surging forward to jump Hunk, who calmly bats him away as if it's nothing. Which for Hunk, it probably is.

"You should have put it on before leaving," Pidge chides. "It needs time to set before you get in the water."

"I- uh- I kinda was in a hurry this morning," Keith stammers, and then quickly adds "b-because my alarm didn't go off so I got up late!" Pidge has that same look his aunt had this morning, and that his uncle had the other day. Keith turns around and starts applying sunscreen, trying not to blush.

The sound of wet footsteps interrupts Keith.

"Want me to do your back?" Lance asks. Keith looks up to see Lance standing there, dripping wet and looking way too good.

"Wet hands aren't very good for applying sunscreen," Keith tells him.

"Uh, hello? That's why we have these little things called towels?" Lance holds his out, and Keith is very glad he didn't have to borrow a towel from Lance as well as a swimsuit because the towel in Lance's hand is very… well it's the kind of thing one would typically expect to be used by a girl. Who is about six. Not a guy who is eleven years older than that.

Keith is so busy trying to burn the image of that towel from his retinas because that is just horrifying to him that he doesn't noticed that Lance has dried off until Lance is taking the sunscreen from him.

"Turn," Lance orders, and Keith complies. Unfortunately, this turns him back to face Pidge, who is grinning evilly now. She is definitely Matt's sister.

Having Lance of all people apply sunscreen to his back is like absolute death in the best kind of way. It is blissful and yet torturous at the same time. Keith lowers his head to try and mask his expression, and also to keep from having to see Pidge's smirk. It's starting to remind him more of Lotor than Matt now, and that is very disturbing to Keith.

Eventually the sunscreen is all applied. Lance tries to immediately drag Keith into the water, but Pidge protests about the sunscreen washing off, and so Keith is spared. For now. Instead he hangs out with Pidge, guarding their stuff in the shade of an umbrella. He watches as Lance and Matt and Hunk go ride the water slide a few times, and jump off the diving board, and then when they all prove to be hopeless divers, go practice diving from the side of the pool rather than further embarrass themselves. And finally Keith can get in the water as well.

He's not sure how to do it. Should he just jump in like the guys did? Go on the waterslide? Ease himself in slowly?

His decision is made for him by a pair of large wet hands grabbing him on either side and bodily throwing him into the pool. Three splashes follow, and then he is sputtering to the surface and trying to shake his mane out of his face and he hears familiar laughter and then Lance is gasping "oh god. Your hair!" like it is the funniest thing ever.

"Okay, but seriously, now that we have four people can we go ahead with the chicken fight?" Hunk asks.

"I still think if you're involved the odds are a little unfair," Matt says.

"Naw, me and Keith can take him," Lance says.

"Hold up. What's a chicken fight?" Keith asks. The other three guys all stare at him.

"Man, the things that you don't know never cease to amaze me," Lance says.

"A chicken fight is a two-vs-two battle done in a pool. Each two man team will have one person riding on the others shoulders, and the goal is to off-balance the other team," Matt explains.

"So it's like pool judo," Keith says.

"Uh… Y'know, I never really thought of it that way," Hunk says. "Sure, it's pool judo."

"Alright. Let's get them, Lance."

"You know it."

"Oh, it's on," Hunk replies.

"It is so on," Matt agrees.

In the end, they don't get to finish their chicken fight, because a lifeguard blows a whistle at them and tells them to stop, and threatens to kick them out of the pool. Keith is mortified, but the others shrug it off like it's no big deal. And as the day goes on and the lifeguards yell at them for splashing too much, for running beside the pool, for going down the waterslide two at a time, and for various other offenses, Keith realizes that maybe such things are normal for them.

As the afternoon rolls around, the sky darkens, and it starts to rain. No one seems particularly perturbed by this. The only real difference it makes is that Pidge, who had finally gotten in the water and was floating around on a pool noodle, gets back out to make sure everything is safely underneath the cover of the umbrella. But before long, they hear a low rumble of distant thunder, and that's when everyone finally does get out of the water and pack up. Matt explains that the pool closes when there's thunder for safety reasons, and that they could try waiting around to see if things cleared up but it wasn't really worth it. Keith is okay with this outcome, because his stomach is starting to whine in protest of the fact that he hasn't eaten today.

They go get lunch at a nearby fast food joint, and afterwards, they come out to find that the rain has stopped. Rather than go back to the pool itself, they go to a park by the pool, and play on the teeter-totters and the merry-go-round and the swings until they're all a little dizzy and tired, and Mr. Holt is called to come get Pidge and Matt and Keith and Mrs. Garrett is called to come get Hunk and Lance.

It wasn't a date.

But it sure was one of the best days Keith has ever had.


	6. Days 8, 9, and 10

Monday rolls around, and with it lots and lots of rollouts. They work on falling almost all practice, starting with roll outs going the long way across the dojo instead of the short way, then dragonflies, and then they spread out for some fish flops. The good news is, it's almost all individual stuff, and so it's a little easier to keep Lotor at bay. The bad news is, a body can only take so many falls before it starts to hurt. It's Coran-sensei running the show today, and everyone is almost in tears because they all thought he was the nice sensei and now that illusion is shattered.

As soon as they've bowed out at the end of practice, Keith finds himself being grabbed by Lance and hauled over to Pidge and Matt and Hunk. They're all waiting patiently, and Keith wonders if Lance already talked to them about whatever is coming next.

"Okay guys: this is it. The five of us, tomorrow, the arcade. Let's do this."

"Aren't arcades kinda expensive? Like you're just spending quarters but you end up spending a lot because the games don't last that long," Keith protests.

Pidge and Matt simultaneously push their glasses up, causing the light to flash on the lenses. Hunk and Lance are both smirking.

"Please," Matt says. "The games last plenty long if you know what you're doing."

"And we definitely know what we're doing," Pidge says. Keith is a little afraid of these guys all of a sudden.

"So, here's how things will go. First, Hunk will have a go at that boxing one, because he totally owns that one. He practically sets a new record every time. Then one of us will go win you a cute stuffed animal from a crane game, because it will be so fun to watch you carrying it around. We'll split up for a while, with me going and playing some shooting games and proving why they call me the sharpshooter, Pidge going off and challenging the classic games to go achieve the maximum scores for like the eightieth time, Matt doing a few driving games, and Hunk will take over the drumming game and we'll all win a bunch. Once we get bored we'll reconvene and shoot a few hoops and then go for a round of skee ball, and then we will finish with a good ol' dance battle. Oh yeah!" Lance says, throwing an arm over Keith's shoulder and gesturing around them as if they are already at the arcade.

"And bring your stuff because we will probably be coming to practice straight from there," Hunk says. "My mom said I could drive myself so we can all leave our stuff in my mom's car."

"Then let's do this!" Lance calls, and throws his hand out. The others immediately pile their hands on top of his, and then look over at Keith expectantly. He puts his hand in, and then Lance places his other hand on top, sandwiching Keith's hand in the mix. They lower their hands a bit as one, and then throw them upwards, cheering.

As Matt and Pidge settle in as Keith's nightly bodyguards, he wonders what he has gotten himself into.

x

The arcade is full of flashing lights and noise and life. To Lance, it's like heaven. He's really excited to bring Keith there, and has to keep reminding himself that this is just a means to keep Keith busy until practice so that he doesn't wind up alone with Lotor. But after Sunday at the pool, Keith looked like he was having so much fun and it was actually the first time Lance had seen him smile like that. Keith is usually so stoic and serious, and the way his face lit up at times just squeezed Lance's heart until it was nothing more than a pulpy mush because this guy could be just. So. Cute! And he wants to see that again today. And really every day from now on, but let's not get ahead of ourselves, shall we?

As promised, they start with Hunk and the punching machine. And things take an immediate turn for the worse, because he's no sooner achieved his high score then someone is challenging it. And that someone is Zethrid. And sure enough, the rest of the crew is there as well.

Lance tries not to feel too sour as they head over to the crane games. There's one with a bunch of lions, and Lance immediately knows that this is the one. He pulls out the roll of quarters he prepared the night before, and in short succession gets five: he's originally planning on one for each of them, but then Keith makes the comment "Shiro would love one of these."

This is a problem. The lions only come in five colors: red, blue, black, green, and yellow. And it would be perfect for the five of them: him, Keith, Hunk, Pidge, and Matt. But if Shiro's getting one…

"You said before his favorite color is black, right?" Matt asks Keith, who nods.

"Then this little guy will be perfect for him. And now we get to laugh at you carrying TWO stuffed animals," Matt laughs.

And just like that the problem is settled. They do split up like planned after that, and Lance makes sure that Keith sticks with someone. He ends up choosing to go for driving games with Matt, and Matt has the good sense to lead the way to a two-player game that Lotor won't easily nose in on. With a sigh of relief, Lance heads off to his favorite zombie fighter game.

Lance is soon joined by Ezor, Narti, and Lotor himself. He's glad that Lotor is where he can see him, though he'd rather not be playing a game together. But the three of them are all pretty good. Lance has played this game on multiplayer many times before, and almost without fail, everyone dies once they reach the swamp. It's the fog. They just can't seem to handle it. But Lotor, Narti, and Ezor all keep up just fine. In the end, they even make it onto the high score board, which had previously been filled out with Lance's name. They're the bottom three scores, but still. He'll have to come back another day to amend this. His pride is on the line.

After they finish their game, Lance takes a look around. Pidge is still working on her high score, and Acxa is by her side doing pretty well herself. Her hair is slightly out of place, which is amazing because even in the midst of practice is stays perfectly arranged across her forehead. Keith and Matt have moved over to a 1v1 fighting game, and Matt is kicking Keith's butt. Not surprising, Matt has an unfair advantage since he figured out the secret to the perfect combo. And Hunk and Zethrid are going crazy with the drums, not missing a single note as they pound away faster than Lance can even keep up with.

As promised, once everyone is ready they all go over to the basketball hoops. There's enough for all ten of them to play together. None of them miss a single shot. It's getting late, and so they skip the skee ball and head straight for the dance pads. Lance convinces Keith to do the first round with him, and kindly puts it on easy even though Lance has been playing on advanced for so long he has most of the songs almost memorized. Even on easy Keith still almost falls over. The rest of them take their turns, and soon it is clear the best dancers are Lance, Hunk, Ezor, and Lotor, and so everyone else backs down while the four of them put on their best moves. Lance tries to pretend he isn't showing off just for Keith, but he totally is. And maybe it's just his imagination, but Keith seems to be watching him. It's not because he has a hole in his pants is it? Or does he have something on his face? Or maybe Keith is trying to unnerve him and make him fail. But he's dancing against Lotor right now, so no way is he going down.

x

Okay. It's official. Lance is hot.

Not that that's exactly news anymore. But it's one thing to see the guy all the time when he's rocking a judo gi and looks a bit like a marshmallow, and completely another to see him in his jeans and jacket, a slight sheen of sweat on his skin, and a gleeful expression on his face as he _moves_. Keith is so undone right now. It's all he can do to keep from drooling. He's totally staring, and he knows he should stop but he really can't.

And all too soon Lance is stepping off the dance pad, a slight flush to his cheeks and Keith wants to go over and gush like…

Like a bunch of strange girls are doing. They're all over Lance and Lotor right now. And suddenly Keith remembers that they are at this shitty arcade with its noise and its smells and its crowdedness, and that the only redeeming features to this place are that the games are a little fun and also it was Lance who brought him here. Lance who is currently laughing along with the girls who surrounded him and Lotor.

Keith has had enough. He claps a hand on Matt's shoulder in passing, letting his friend know he's headed outside, and leaves.

x

Lance won, of course. Of course he won. Like he'd lose to anyone at a dance battle, especially against Lotor. He's ready to leave as soon as the song is over, but he's barely gotten off the platform before he is accosted by spectators. Some of them are kinda cute, but right now there's a different cutie on his mind. So he laughs along with them and brushes off their offers to exchange numbers- an offer that just a week ago he would have died for- and realizes that Keith is no longer there. Lotor is still being fawned over, and enjoying the praise it seems, but that hardly matters because where is Keith?

"Sorry ladies, but we actually have somewhere to be," Hunk's voice says, and Lance could almost kiss his best friend for the excuse to get out of there. Hunk leads the way outside, and there's Keith, sitting with Matt and Pidge and looking so forlorn that Lance suddenly realized his mistake. Keith is not a social person. Not that Pidge is either, but she is such a tech geek and a gamer that she can still find something in an arcade. But for Keith- that must have been hell. Coming here was a total mistake.

Keith doesn't look at Lance at all on the way to practice, or during practice, or even as Lance says goodbye to him and Hunk at the end.

And Lance's heart is crushed a little bit.

x

Keith knows he is being stupid. He knows that he has no reason to feel hurt right now, or to be stress eating yogurt-covered pretzels. There was never anything between him and Lance. They're not even friends. Just temporary allies. And once Lotor is gone, they won't even be that. It's almost enough to make him wish Lotor would stick around forever.

Speaking of Lotor, these yogurt-covered pretzels are about the same color as Lotor's hair. It almost makes Keith wish he'd gone for the chocolate-covered ones instead.

It's just- how could he not get his hopes up with the way Lance has been these last few days? Yeah, it's just to keep him from being alone with Lotor under any circumstances, but they've been getting along. They've gone on dates! Dates that weren't really dates, and he knows that, but still. They teamed up for the chicken fight that never happened. They danced together. Lance helped him clean up his bloody nose. They had a heart to heart. They had coffee together. And in between all that, during practice? They were joking around. Lance had teased him about things, the same way Lance teased his friends. So was it really all that odd for Keith to feel upset at harsh reality shoving it in his face that Lance likes girls?

Keith has to dig pretty deep into the bag for the next pretzel. They're almost all gone. And he still doesn't feel any better.

At breakfast the next morning, Keith remembers he still has to ask permission to stay at the Holts' tomorrow night. His aunt readily agrees. However, things go south as he is getting ready for practice.

"Keith!" his aunt shrieks, running into his room even though he'd had the door closed. He quickly tugs his shirt down, glad he's already changed his shorts and isn't in his underwear. His aunt is holding a phone and waving it around, and she doesn't even give him a chance to answer before she continues her panic.

"Your mom says you've never been to a sleepover before! Why didn't you tell me?!"

"I-I didn't think it was relevant?" Keith stammers.

"Of course it's relevant, this is a big problem!"

"Does that mean I can't go?" Keith asks. He's not sure how to feel about this. On the one hand, he was kind of looking forward to spending the night with his friends- or friend since if Lance wasn't really his friend then were Pidge and Hunk? But on the other hand, Lance was going to be there, and he wasn't sure he wanted to spend the night in the same room as Lance. Or would they be in a tent? Who knew how this was going to work.

Keith can just hear a voice emanating from the phone, and his aunt holds it back up to her ear.

"Of course! Why didn't I think of that?" she says after a moment, then rushes out of the room, shouting "Takashi!"

Keith puts the conversation out of mind. But then as he and Shiro are getting out of the car at the dojo, the Holts pull up, and Shiro asks Keith to unlock the dojo for him. This isn't unusual. What is unusual is Shiro going over and talking to Mr. Holt a bit as Matt and Pidge get out of the car. Matt and Pidge hover nearby as Mr. Holt and Shiro talk, their eyes bugging out a bit. And then Matt comes pelting over to Keith.

"Keith! Shiro just said your aunt wants the sleepover to be at your place since it's your first slumber party and they want to make sure you're safe!" Matt gasps.

Keith drops Shiro's keys.

"Wait what?"

"You didn't know?"

Keith shakes his head.

"Aw, this'll be so cute. Widdle biddy Keef needs his babysitter," Pidge teases, joining them.

"Don't worry, I'd have tucked you in if it were gonna be at our place," Matt says.

"It will still be at your guys's house… won't it?" Keith asks, feeling the color drain from his face.

"Oh, no," Pidge says grinning. "Dad just agreed to it readily. He and mom will be happy to have the house to themselves."

Keith groans. It's a good thing he doesn't have a social life, because this would totally end it for him.

x

The news of the change of locations for the sleepover makes Lance wonder if he's still invited. After all, Keith still seems to be avoiding him. He really messed up by suggesting the arcade. It's just- he figured it would be a bit cheaper than the movies, and less lame than wandering around a mall (not that that couldn't be fun, but he'd figured it would be a lot harder to make Keith try on ridiculous clothes as was usually a par for the course when wandering a mall with Lance), and it was either the arcade or mini-golf and the last time he went to the local mini-golf course, he got a soda dumped on him trying to flirt with a girl. A girl who worked there. So yeah, he can't really show his face there anytime soon, so the arcade was about the only option left.

But during one of the water breaks Shiro-sensei stops by to inform him and Pidge and Hunk that they should bring pillows and sleeping bags, so he guesses he's still allowed to come. Pidge, meanwhile, seems to be rather nervous about things, since she uses the next water break to go ask Shiro about something to do with tomorrow night- she doesn't specify, and Lance doesn't ask. Maybe she's worried about something girly. Or maybe she's suddenly shy about being the only girl staying over, even though Lance and Hunk have spent the night at her place plenty of times and even stayed in the same room as her (with Matt present as well, of course) so it's not like she's never had a sleepover with guys before. Pidge can be a mystery sometimes. But she's still pretty cool, so the rest of them just roll with it.

That night, Lance is the one staying late to Lotor-block. Luckily, Lotor leaves the dojo right away. Lance happens to be near the door when Lotor goes, and he watches as Lotor and his gang walk off, making certain Lotor isn't just trying to lull him into a false sense of security. Then, since Lotor is gone and Keith still is keeping his distance, Lance takes his stuff outside to wait for his ride. He's still waiting when Keith and Shiro come out and close up the dojo. Shiro offers to drive him home, and he's about to turn him down when he gets a call from his dad saying that since they don't usually have judo on Wednesdays, his dad hasn't left yet and is in the middle of helping his sister make cookies, and since his sister will make the worst mess ever if left to her own baking devices, he can't very well abandon her. So Lance accepts.

It just might be the most awkward car ride of Lance's life. Shiro keeps trying to engage both him and Keith in conversation. At first, Lance does try and keep up the chatter because he's a chatty guy, and also if Shiro is asking questions he ought to answer them. But every time Shiro tries to say something to Keith he gets a bland, monotonous, monosyllabic answer and it turns out to be infectious. Soon Lance is offering less and less information, and Shiro is asking less questions, and they've barely gotten halfway to Lance's house before the only words being uttered are Lance telling Shiro things like "turn left at that stop sign."

Maybe Lance should apologize to Keith about the arcade. But if it was something Keith hated so much, he could have said no. Or he could have said he wasn't having fun.

Except when does Keith ever say what he's feeling? And he admitted he's bad at being social. So maybe he felt too much pressure when everyone else was already on board to hit the arcade. And Keith did protest about it being too expensive, so maybe that was his way of trying to say he didn't want to go. Ugh. How can a guy who is so blunt and straightforward be so oblique when it counted most.

They arrive at Lance's house before he can make up his mind about how to apologize, and the sight of his house makes him forget all about saying sorry. It's not that there's anything different about it than usual. It's just that for the first time, he considers how it must look to others.

The yard is a mess. There's the overgrown garden, the grass that is getting long because Lance and his brother still haven't settled their argument about who's chore that should be this summer, there's toys scattered about, and a pile of dog poop is visible in the one patch of dirt where there used to be a bird bath. There's a tree on the side that has a kite tangled in its branches, and the bark is missing on one side near the base of the trunk. The paint on the house is peeling a bit, and the driveway is covered in chalk murals drawn with little artistic talent. It's always been home, and Lance has never had a single second thought about it, but suddenly he's embarrassed, certain that to Shiro and Keith it must look like an absolute dump. Or maybe just to Shiro, since Keith is determinedly staring out his window which overlooks the opposite side of the street. The houses there aren't exactly grandiose either, but at least they're not in quite the chaotic state Lance's place is in.

"Uh, thanks for the ride," Lance says, because his mom raised him to be polite even if he is dying of embarrassment.

"Sure thing Lance," Shiro says in what Lance thinks of as his sensei-voice. Which might be his normal voice actually. Shiro just has one of those voices that sounds all responsible and mentor-y and a bit dad-ish. Like he will love you and protect you always or something.

Lance is only too happy to shut the front door behind him and hear Shiro's car start to drive away.


	7. Day 12

When practice on Thursday ends, Keith has to admit it: he's a little excited to have everyone stay over tonight. He spent all day cleaning with his aunt to prepare. He dusted, vacuumed, helped rearrange furniture, and basically left the place sparkling. No one's going to believe that people actually live in their house, it's that clean.

And then Shiro asks who's going to be in which car. Matt and Pidge already said when they arrived at practice that their dad would pick them up like usual so they could shower at home before coming and also wouldn't have to tote all their stuff to practice, so that just means Hunk and Lance and Shiro and himself. Which should all fit in just one car.

"We were gonna send Acxa with you and the rest of us will ride with Hunk," Ezor says, and Keith turns to see his least-favorite quintet all standing around, ready for a sleepover. Out of the corner of his eye he sees Lance staring at them in outrage, and Hunk calmly patting Lance on the back. Keith doesn't know Hunk all that well, but he suspects that Hunk might have known about this already.

"See you guys in a bit," Pidge calls from the doorway, and waves. Lotor and his crew all turn and wave back cheerfully. Keith hears Lance growl something about "the little traitor!" in a rather vicious tone. So Pidge knew. Shiro knew. Hunk maybe knew. Lance didn't. And Matt? Was Matt in on this- this- Keith didn't know what to call it. A cruel prank? A set-up? An ambush?

They head out to the cars, and Shiro gives tells their address to Lotor so that their car can get directions on his phone. Keith tries not to grind his teeth over it.

"You can sit up front," he grunts to Acxa when they reach the car.

"What a gentleman," she comments drily. It's a little sarcastic, but Keith doesn't give a shit right now. This kind of crap is just another reason not to have friends.

"At least he's not inviting himself along to other people's houses," Lance snaps.

"Oh but Pidge invited us. And Shiro said it was okay," Acxa replies sweetly. Lance's lip curls upwards in a snarl, and he gets in on the driver's side of the car where he sat yesterday and slams the door. Keith and Acxa follow suit in their respective seats, though with a little less slamming. Keith would love to slam the door like that, but Shiro would pitch a fit.

The drive is even more uncomfortable than the one yesterday, when Shiro kept making conversation and Lance was chatty until Keith ruined it all. A small, ugly part of him is glad that he was able to dampen the mood so much, because it means that he can have an effect on Lance, even if it's only a negative one. But mostly he just feels like a piece of shit for that. Tonight though, no one even bothers to try talking. The mood in the vehicle is just too oppressive for any kind of conversation.

Keith's aunt and uncle don't seem surprised at the amount of guests either. It seems everyone knew but him. And Lance. Maybe. Lance always boasts about his acting skills, so maybe he's just acting surprised and upset, and was in on the prank all along.

They all go in and Keith tries to be a good host and offers up the shower to anyone who wants it. The Galra dojo crew all politely decline, saying they'll shower when they get back to their hotel. In this manner, Keith discovers that they aren't actually staying the night, just for dinner and a bit after. It's a small blessing. So that just leaves three of them who need to shower, and despite the fact that it is his home (for the time being anyway) and he should let the guests go first, Lance insists that Keith ought to shower first. Keith doesn't have the energy to argue, so he does. When he gets out, Pidge and Matt have arrived, and everyone is playing cards. While Lance and Hunk take their turns in the shower, the rest of the group teaches Keith how to play "Egyptian War" and "BS". He's pretty good at Egyptian War, but Lotor completely dominates at BS. It might almost be fun, if it weren't for the people he's playing with.

After everyone has showered, his aunt announces that dinner is ready, and they eat. Everyone compliments his aunt's cooking, and Keith feels a touch of pride hearing that, because his aunt is a pretty good cook. And she's outdone herself tonight with her homemade lasagne. He's mildly amused when Hunk asks her for the recipe she used.

After dinner, they decide to play "truth or dare" until the Galra dojo kids have to head back. Or rather, Pidge suggests it and Lotor and his miniature harem all voice agreement, and with a little encouragement, Lance begins to boast he is the king of daredevils, and Hunk is saying he will gladly take on any eating challenge, and Matt is grinning, and so Keith knows it's happening whether he wants it to or not. He's not sure if he wants it to happen or not. It could be fun? Maybe? But he feels just a little nervous somehow.

Zethrid goes first.

"Gimme a dare," she states proudly.

"Sing us your favorite song," Ezor says with a wicked grin. Zethrid turns the color of a beet but after a moment, sings out in a slightly off-key voice "Twinkle twinkle little star…" The rest of the song is drowned out by laughter.

Next is Narti, who apparently chooses truth.

"Hmmmm. How about… who would you cosplay at an anime convention?" Matt suggests.

Narti's hands move, and keep moving, and finally Lotor cuts her off with "Okay, I think we all get the point that you are secretly a huge cosplay fan."

"I'll go next. Give me a truth too," Pidge says.

"Tell us your most embarrassing moment," Zethrid says without hesitation.

"Oh gosh. Oh no. Okay. So." Pidge takes in a deep breath through her nose, then heaves it out through her mouth. "Okay. This one time, in like, fourth grade, we were playing 'around the world' for math class. And… I lost. I had a cold and started coughing and so I was a bit late with my answer."

"That's your most embarrassing moment?!" Lance cries.

"Yes because I can't believe I actually lost to you!" Pidge screeches.

"Didn't you still ultimately win that day?" Hunk asks.

"Barely! I will never live that humiliation down!" Pidge cries. She's actually almost in tears.

"I want a dare," Matt says.

"Handstand for thirty seconds," Acxa challenges.

"Aw crap," Matt groans. It seems likely that Acxa has picked up on the fact that Matt has balance issues.

"I'll spot for you," Keith offers. "If that's allowed?"

"Just don't hold him up," Acxa agrees. Matt inverts himself, and they all count the seconds as Matt's face gets redder and redder until finally they reach thirty and he all but collapses to the ground.

"Okay, who's next?" Ezor asks eagerly.

"I'll go," Lance says confidently. "Give me your worst dare." He crosses his arms and leans back, the epitome of confidence.

"Alright," Lotor says with a sly grin. "I dare you… to. Kiss. Keith."

Keith feels himself turn pale. He turns towards Lance, and they lock gazes. Keith's mouth goes dry as he knows Lance is going to do it. It'll be his first kiss (he refuses to count what happened at the ice rink), and with the guy he likes, and he hasn't even brushed his teeth and he probably has bad breath from the garlic and onions in the lasagne. He is so not prepared for this, he'll never be prepared for this, and yet somehow, it feels like his whole life has all just been a prelude for this moment. Until Lance shatters it with his words.

"I can't do that."

x

"Lance, are you sure? It means surrendering your 'King of Daredevils' title," Pidge says, raising her eyebrows. She knows how much Lance hates to lose.

"Look, it's like this. There are certain lines you just don't cross, and that dare is just past the line. I can't. It wouldn't be right."

"Well then, guess it's time for punishment," Lotor says.

"Pu-nish-ment! Pu-nish-ment!" Zethrid and Ezor start to chant.

"The traditional punishment for us has always been a forehead flick," Matt says. He gets booed. "Hey, not my fault! I was all for upping the ante but my dad caught wind of it and threatened to ground me for a year."

"Alright, I'll do it since I issued the dare," Lotor says. Lance closes his eyes and awaits the flick. He deserves this. Actually, he deserves worse. Because for a second there, he almost did it. He almost caved in to the nasty impulse that said to go ahead and kiss Keith, and knock his socks off with it. But that would have been the douchiest move in the history of ever, and Lance just wasn't on that level. He suspected some girls he'd had run-ins with the past might be inclined to disagree, and maybe he had been a little too persistent at times, but he'd matured a bit since then and learned to be a better guy.

The flick is intense, and Lance nearly falls over. He sucks in a breath from in between his clenched teeth, and blinks a few times to keep from tearing up. Though that might not be from the punishment. That might be because of a lot of things, like the opportunity he'd just passed up, or the shock on Keith's face right now, or maybe because he knew deep down that there was no way he'd ever kiss Keith, no matter how nice that seemed like it would be.

The game continues, but Lance doesn't care. Why should it matter to him who Acxa's favorite actor is, or which superhero Hunk would most like to be. He doesn't care if Lotor gets dared to drink a mix of orange juice, chocolate milk, and tomato sauce, or if Keith is dared to climb onto the roof- a dare which is cancelled when Shiro overhears and forbids it. Lance just doesn't care right now. Maybe he should just go home.

After the game is over, they can tell that it's starting to get dark, and so the Galra dojo crew head out. They opt to run back to their hotel, claiming that Zarkon-sensei will keep them running all night if they accept a ride, and insisting they can handle anyone who tries to give them trouble along the way. Which they can, but it's clear Shiro still doesn't like them going alone like that.

After they say goodbye, everyone heads back inside to discuss what movie to watch. Lance figures now is the time to talk to Shiro about getting a ride home. Though first he should come up with a reason for it. He could claim he feels sick. It's not exactly a lie. He definitely feels heartsick right about now.

"Lance, can we talk?" Keith asks, surprising him. Keith, who hasn't wanted to even acknowledge he exists for the last couple of days. He thinks about refusing, but it's Keith, and he just doesn't have the willpower to say no.

"Alright, sure," Lance sighs. Keith grabs his wrist and tugs him outside to the back deck.

"Ummmmm," Keith begins. He falls silent, and Lance heaves a sigh. Would Keith just get to the point already?

"About earlier… I, uh, that- it would have been okay if you had done it."

"Pardon?"

"The dare. If you had kissed me? It would have been fine."

Lance sighs again. Of all things, this is the last subject he wants to talk about.

"No, Keith. It would NOT have been fine," Lance snaps. "Maybe it would be fine for you because you don't give a damn about me, but the fact of the matter is, things have been weird for me lately. And at first I couldn't figure it out but finally it hit me that it's all because I like you. As in, I _LIKE_ you. And so kissing you, when I have feelings and you don't? That's really gonna hurt. I'm the one who's gonna get burned here Keith, so don't say it would have been fine."

Keith blinks, and Lance turns to head back inside. He just feels so _hollow_ right now.

"Since when do I not give a damn about you?" Keith's question brings Lance to a halt.

"Since when do I not have feelings for you?" Keith asks accusatorily, coming up beside Lance. He grabs Lance's shoulder and turns Lance to face him again.

"I already told you how I was flirting with you that first day because I was attracted to you, danggit!"

"Yeah, and since then I have been a total dick to you pretty much every time we were anywhere near each other, and attraction can only go so far, man. The way I've acted towards you, you must hate me by now. There's no way you wouldn't!"

"Lance," Keith says, his jaw tight as he takes a deep breath to calm himself. "For the past several months I have spent every day reminding myself what a jerk you are and telling myself that having a crush on you is the dumbest thing I've ever done. And then I see your smile and every pep talk I give myself to try and talk myself out of liking you goes out the window, and I see you being a dork with Pidge and Hunk and sink a little deeper, and now you go telling me that you're the one who's interested and I'm the one who can't be bothered? God damn it, Lance, I am so completely over the moon for you, I would do anything to get kissed by you!"

Something clicks inside Lance. Keith would do anything to get kissed by him? Anything? Like get Lotor to give him that dare?

"Wow. I am such a fool. You were never bothered by Lotor, were you? It was all just a ploy, wasn't it? And I fell for it." Lance laughs bitterly, but then he notices the genuine confusion and outrage on Keith's face.

"A ploy? Seriously Lance? Is that really what you think of me? And here you were saying that you like me. What a load of crap." Now it's Keith's turn to laugh bitterly.

"Well what else am I supposed to think? You tell me you would do anything to get kissed by me, and not even half an hour ago Lotor dared me to do just that! I'm not the best at math here, but I'm pretty sure that there's some really high odds of you being in cahoots with him!"

"Ummmm," Lance and Keith turn towards the sound of Pidge's voice. She, Hunk, and Matt are all standing at the door, listening in. Lance realizes he has a grip on Keith's shirt, and Keith has a grip on his. Lance lets go, and Keith looks down, startled, before following suit.

"We, uh, we might be able to shed a little light on this situation," Hunk says with a nervous laugh.

Lance folds his arms and waits for an explanation.

"Sooooo, first off, I may have told Lotor about Keith having a crush on you on the first day of the training camp," Matt admits.

"By 'may have', you mean you did," Keith spits.

"Details," Matt says with an airy wave of his hand that has Keith's fists clenched at his side.

"And Hunk and I have known since, like, forever that you were denying a crush on Keith, because, frankly, you're kinda obsessed with him," Pidge tells Lance. "And I noticed that the more Lotor hung around Keith, the more you looked like you were about to pop, and it was clear Lotor had noticed as well, and at first I thought he was just messing with you two until that thing with the closet. So I offered to help him get you two together, because, really, it's about damn time, we're honestly sick to god about you complaining about Keith, Lance, especially since you would not believe how many of your complaints are actually backhanded compliments. For example-" Pidge points to Hunk with both hands, and Hunk immediately launches into an impression of Lance.

"Oh my god. Keith is such a jerk. He acts like he's so great just because he has the nicest abs you've ever seen and god they are just sooooo fine and I kinda want to kill myself just seeing him without a shirt because they're just begging to be touched and I hate him so much!"

"Hunk? Drop dead," Lance says icily.

"Anyway, it just so happened that right after that you came up with your cock-eyed 'let's protect Keith from Lotor' scheme, and it was the perfect opportunity, so I went ahead and recruited Matt and Hunk to help me make sure you guys got some quality time together, and it was totally working too until… it wasn't. And since we couldn't really figure out what went wrong we figured we'd try going for a chemical reaction. And since Lance never turns down a dare, we figured we'd challenge you to kiss him and you would do it and it wouldn't stop at just one kiss and while seeing you two eat each other's faces off isn't exactly my idea of a great night, I figured I'd tolerate it like the good friend I am. Only then you actually backed down for once. Way to choose the worst time to be a coward, Lance," Pidge says.

"A coward? Pidge, kissing someone who doesn't like you is a totally dick move!" Lance explodes.

"Yeah, except he does like you. And you like him," Matt points out.

"But I didn't know that!"

"Well now you do, so hurry up and do it."

"But I already took the punishment for the dare, Matt. It's already been resolved."

"Don't do it because it's a dare, do it because you want to."

"Matt, you are the worst friend ever," Keith growls. "Let's just go watch a damn movie."

Lance follows gratefully as they return to Keith's living room to watch whatever movie everyone picked out. Shiro's already there with a couple of bowls of popcorn, watching the previews. He's pretty embarrassed right now, about confessing to Keith, about accusing Keith of working with Lotor, about being overheard, about pretty much everything that had happened tonight, about everything that had happened since the Galra dojo visit started. The last thing he needs is to add on the embarrassment of snogging with Keith while having an audience.

Hunk knocks out during the first movie, like he always does. Shiro chooses a romance for the second movie, which puts Pidge out as well, so they decide to call it a night there. Matt goes to brush his teeth and Shiro goes to clean up while Lance takes the movie out of the DVD player and Keith unfolds the couch into a bed.

"Hey Keith?" Lance says while they still have a moment of relative privacy.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry about accusing you of working with Lotor."

"No, I overreacted. The way I phrased things- I probably would have come to the same conclusion if I were you."

"If you were me I'd be crushing on myself," Lance laughs.

"Then you'd have some pretty good taste."

"I already do. It only developed recently, but it helped me finally notice how great this one guy I know is."

"Then if, hypothetically speaking, that guy were to ask you out- like on a date- what would you do?"

"Iiiiiii'd have to tell him that my parents imposed a rule where we're not allowed to date anyone until they've met and been approved of by the entire family. Like, aunts, uncles, cousins, the works. And I'd have to admit to saying some not very nice things that were mostly- and by mostly I mean completely- uncalled for, and so I might need a little time to retract all those things I've said about him and butter them up so they'll have a positive impression and not hate him from the get-go. And I'd have to ask him if he still thinks a date with someone like me is worth it if he first has to go through all that."

"I thought meeting your family was supposed to be a step that happens when things get serious in a relationship!" Keith yelps as quietly as he can.

"Dude, I've already met your cousin and aunt and uncle. Besides, my family is of the opinion that you need to be serious right from the start. No casual dating. Everyone you bring home has to be someone you think you will commit to."

"That's not scary at all."

"And I haven't even told you about the time they ran my sister's ex off through sheer intimidation, or about how her other ex got chased off by my grandma because the moron called Grandma's cat the ugliest creature alive," Lance says, shaking his head in mock concern.

"You really love to freak me out like this, don't you?" Keith says suspiciously.

"I'd say I'm sorry but I'm honestly not. And my mom taught me not to waste my breath with apologies I don't mean."

"You could at least pretend to mean it for my peace of mind. But aside from insulting your grandmother's cat, are there any other faux pas to avoid committing?"

"Just be polite, and be real with them. And like I said, let me build up your reputation a bit first since I've kinda dragged your name through the mud and I doubt I can convince them that your not THAT Keith."

"Just don't take too long about it. I really would like to have a date sometime."

"Wait, what's this about a date?" Shiro asks from the doorway. Both Keith and Lance flinch. Just when things were finally starting to calm down, they had to get complicated again.


	8. Final Days and Beyond

The last two days of the camp are fairly uneventful. Friday they play some games the senseis invent on the spot, like a weird version of "freeze" where when the music turns off they have to fall and the last person to hit the floor is out. Then, on Saturday, they run a fairly normal practice but finish with a mock tournament. Keith wins of course. Lance would like to say he got second, but the cold hard truth is that he got out in his first match thanks to a dirty trick wherein Ezor yelled "Keith is making kissy faces at you!" from the sidelines, and Lance found it too distracting and lost. Ezor did try and apologize and Acxa tried to insist on a rematch, but Haggar-sensei was the judge and awarded Acxa the point with a malicious smile.

As for Lotor, he gets ejected for using an illegal hold-down on Hunk. Hunk is the one who actually makes it to the finals against Keith, and Lance can't help but feel a little jealous. He may or may not try to convince Hunk that if he stuffs a pillow in his gi and wears a wig he can pass as Hunk and get to face Keith. May or may not meaning he totally does. Hunk laughs in his face and tells him "Don't worry Lance, I promise not to bruise your boyfriend too much." Since Lance isn't sure he can truly call Keith his boyfriend yet, he ends up too flustered to retort.

Pidge later shows him some pictures she took during the tournament, including ones of him watching Keith's matches with the dopiest look on his face. He's not even embarrassed though, because Keith just looked that good out there. And with a little luck, soon he'll be able to tell everyone with pride that that boy is _his_. He melts a little just thinking about it.

For Lance, those two days are filled with something far more important: trying to unbias his family against Keith. It's hard work, since his siblings keep reminding him about every last thing he's said to slander Keith since they met. It's unpleasant work, since his mom washes his mouth out with soap for telling lies when he admits that he may have been a little too harsh on Keith before. It's frightening work, since his dad is smart enough to put two and two together and realizes that Lance is going to be bringing Keith home in the near future, and heads out to the hardware store "to prepare". And for the first time in his life Lance wonders if his dad isn't above using torture on prospective significant others.

x

When it comes time to say goodbye to the Galra dojo guests, Keith is surprised to find he's a little sad to see them go. Not Lotor though. That guy can hurry up and disappear.

But the rest… sure they're all lifetime members of the Lotor fan club (they even have jacket patches) and they do have some very questionable methods at times, but they're actually pretty nice. They promise to see each other all again soon though, in tournaments. And Keith thinks that maybe they really are his friends, or they could be anyway, and maybe that's rather nice after all.

And then comes D-Day. The day he has to meet Lance's family. When he arrives at Lance's house, the family is all out on the lawn, which is significantly cleaner than the time when he and Shiro dropped Lance off (Keith may not have looked at the house back then, but he had peripheral vision and that mess was hardly something you could miss). They all have stony stares on their faces, and Keith is a little terrified, but there in the middle is Lance, looking like he's about to faint from nerves. And according to Matt, Lance actually did faint from nerves before his first tournament, which ended up not being his first tournament since he missed weigh-ins as a result of his fainting.

What happens after Keith gets out of the car is something he would not recommend experiencing. The entire family surges forward as one, and he is certain he's about to die. But then they simply surround him and _stare_. It's crazy unnerving. Luckily, after about ten long seconds Lance manages to push his way through the ring of relatives, and then they're staring at him and Keith rather than just Keith, which is more embarrassing but less terrifying.

"Uh, hi?" Keith finally manages. There's a lump of fear in his throat but he'll be damned if he isn't going to at least try to make a good impression. "I-I'm Keith. Kogane. Keith Kogane. Um, nice to meet you."

And just like that all the impassive faces split into grins and he gets herded inside. Lance somehow gets left protesting in the dust, and Keith wants to go back to him since he feels a little less threatened with Lance at his side but everyone is talking and bringing out photo albums and offering him drinks and food and asking him questions and he just can't keep up.

After what seems like hours of doing his best to answer people's questions and agreeing that yes, Lance was such a cute baby, and yes he will have a glass of water because his throat was starting to get sore, Lance finally manages to extract him from the throng. He has no idea how it happens- one moment he is on the couch telling Lance's little sister that her doll is cute and getting endearing looks from both the owner of the doll and Lance's grandpa who apparently made the doll, and the next thing he knows a door is shutting and the noise gets quieter and Lance is whooshing out a sigh and collapsing onto a bed.

"Sorry about that. I know they can be kinda overwhelming," Lance says.

"They're… nice. I honestly half expected to get murdered by now," Keith admits.

"Nah, they only do that to the real jerks. But you haven't done anything to offend anyone, you haven't chickened out yet, and you've actually managed to score some major points according to my grandma's tally, so things are looking good for you."

"Oh. Good. I think. So, would it be overly optimistic to start asking where you'd like to go for our first date?"

"We-ell, Pidge kinda promised me a ticket to the amusement park that she has yet to cash in on, and since she was _so_ kind about trying to help us out, I was thinking of asking her to scrounge up a second ticket since her dad designed like half the place anyway so I'm pretty sure they still get in for dirt cheap, and if it's alright with you…"

"Roller coasters? Count me in. I bet I can go longer without screaming."

"Oh it's on." Lance grins, but he can't help but remember the arcade.

"Just, are you sure it won't be too much or anything?" he asks.

"Why would it be too much?"

"Just, like, at the arcade, you seemed kinda upset and so I thought maybe you ended up a little overstimulated. Like, I guess you're kinda more introverted than me, like a lot more, and-"

"I was kinda upset because I didn't like seeing you flirting with your fans."

"Flirting… with? Fans? Huh?"

"When you were dancing off against Lotor. Afterwards there were all these girls, and, well, I kinda got jealous."

"Okay, just a warning, I'm about five seconds from laughing at you, because dude, if they hadn't gotten in my way I was totally on my way to use my champion's rights to demand you go another round with me."

"Oh."

"Yeah. So, it wasn't the arcade itself that bothered you then?"

"No."

"So we could go back sometime? And I could teach you how to master all the shooting games and the moves to win the dancing ones?"

"Sure. Sounds great."

"Cool."

A knock on the door comes, and Lance's mom pops her head in to ask if Keith wants to watch some home videos.

"Awww, maaaaaa, not the one of my kindergarten graduation," Lance whines.

Lance's mother's only response is the twinkle in her eyes as she leaves the room, leaving the door open.

"What's so bad about your kindergarten graduation?" Keith asks.

"I uh, I kinda sorta tripped on my way up the stage. And ripped my little graduation gown. And had my pants fall down. And let's just say the rest has to be seen to be believed, and even then it's a little hard to believe, and it is sheer and utter humiliation in the form of a grainy VHS tape. I have tried to destroy it a few times over the years, but my mom is good at placing decoys. Or she has twenty billion copies. Both are entirely possible."

"Wow. I feel so sorry for you right now."

"Thanks, man."

They go and watch the home videos, and Lance's kindergarten graduation truly is unbelievable. If it weren't for the quality of the film which could only come from a home video that had no special effects, Keith would have thought it was somehow doctored because it was just so unreal. Lance was a walking disaster, and Keith loved it. He loved him. And so when they go for a walk after the movie and end up sitting on a bench together at a park a few blocks away, Keith figures this is about as much privacy as they're gonna get today, and he might as well bite the bullet.

"I'd still be okay with you kissing me, y'know," he tells Lance.

"I'd ask where that came from, but I was kinda thinking about that too, to be honest," Lance admits.

The kiss is nothing to shout about. It's short, and not deep at all, and yet it spreads a comforting warmth through Keith that fills him up with happiness. And then they get up and head back to Lance's place, and Keith talks with Lance's family some more, and when he finally leaves he is sent home with a patchwork quilt made by the McClain family.

That night, even though it is summer and it is hot, Keith sleeps under that quilt. For the first time ever, he has friends, he has a boyfriend, and all in all, it feels pretty darn good.


End file.
